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Wilfred Barsley (Montagu Love) and Paul La France (Jack Halliday) are both struggling artists. Barsley is getting nowhere, while La France, who has more talent, is doing just a bit better. La France has an actress girlfriend, Helen Danver (Adele Blood), who temporarily leaves town to join a musical comedy troupe. Barsley, meanwhile, is tempted by the Devil (Edwin Stevens), who convinces him to murder his rich uncle. He inherits his uncle's fortune, and when he discovers that La France has lost his mind from illness, he has him locked up in a sanitarium and takes his paintings as his own. The paintings bring Barsley fame. Helen comes back to town a star, and Barsley, in an attempt to impress her, shows her "his" work. She immediately recognizes the paintings as belonging to La France and sticks around to see if she can locate her missing beau. While she is trying to track him down, she ruins Barsley by forcing him to spend his fortune on her. She finally finds the sanitarium, and when La France sees her, his memory is restored. They are reunited while Barsley hits rock bottom and dies, thus giving the Devil his due. This picture was based on a poem, "The Mills of the Gods," by Edward Madden.