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Henry Walthall plays a priest who is duty bound to keep secret a terrible confession in this melodramatic thriller. Father Bartlett (Walthall) is concerned about his brother, Tom (Francis McDonald), a rowdy young man who drinks too much. Tom gets himself in trouble on the night he is out drinking with Jimmie Creighton (Barney Furey), the brother of his sweetheart, Rose (Margaret Landis). When Jimmie tells Tom that he has had enough to drink, it causes an argument and the two men come to blows outside the saloon. Tom drops his gun, but it is picked up by Joseph Dumont (William Clifford), who shoots Jimmie because he had wronged his sister. Dumont goes to Father Bartlett with this confession. Father Bartlett holds to the sanctity of the confessional, even though Tom is arrested for the crime, convicted, and sentenced to die. Although Father Bartlett prefers to leave the matter in the hands of a "greater judge," Tom is not so willing, and he escapes. He is found in the Canadian Northwest and brought back to be hung. Father Bartlett saves Dumont from drowning and convinces him to come clean. Meanwhile, Rose and Tom's mother (Margaret McWade) have begged for a pardon from the governor, to no avail. Father Bartlett and Dumont finally show up, but Dumont drops dead before he can reveal the truth. But just before the trap springs on Tom, a confession is found in Dumont's pocket. Tom is finally freed.