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The Pathe color-stencil process, wherein each frame was laboriously tinted by hand, was still in use as late as 1916, albeit reserved only for such "prestige" efforts as The Shrine of Happiness. Hoydenish Jackie Saunders was starred as Marie, a free-spirited child of the mountains (a standard character in films of this period, permitting moviemakers to show off the attractive legs of their leading ladies). Informed by her dying father that she is the owner of a secret gold mine, Marie is sent to locate her dad's ex-partner, who will guide the girl to her inherited riches. But before she can embark upon her journey, Marie is forced to flee from a pair of would-be rapists, forcing her to spend several days in the mountains without food or water. Weary and starving, Marie finally reaches the cabin of her dad's partner, whose younger brother instantly falls in love with the girl. Though Marie is sweet on the older brother, he gallantly hides his own feelings out of respect for his younger sibling's happiness. But by film's end, the kid brother figures out who's really in love with whom and obligingly bows out of the picture, permitting Marie to marry the older man.