AllMovie

Robert Sheldon (Lloyd Hughes) is raised alone by his mother (Claire McDowell), who years before had been deserted by his father, Willard Thatcher (Joseph Kilgour). When he grows up and wants to make good, she sends him to Thatcher, without revealing that the man is his father. But when Robert discovers that Thatcher's financial schemes are crooked things begin to go wrong. The two argue, and while Thatcher admits that he is the husband of Robert's mother, he brazenly claims he isn't his father. Thatcher is killed in an accident, and his mistress, Fan Baxter (Betty Blythe), perjures herself in court so that Robert is convicted of murdering him. But Robert's mother comes to the rescue and forces Fan to confess that she lied. As a result, her son is freed. This drama was based on the Charles Belmont Davis story, The Octopus, and has nothing to do with the 1917 film of the same name.