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Unlike later films bearing the same title, 1916's The Ransom was not a kidnap drama. Adapted from Eve Unsell's play The Marionettes, the film is a "Madame X"-like melange involving a woman named Janet Osborne (Julia Dean), who deserts her husband and child and runs off with her lover, hoping to become a great stage actress. Things don't go so well for Janet, and within a few years she's working as a common domestic. The ultimate irony comes much later, when Janet, working under an assumed name, is hired as the personal maid for her daughter Marcia (Louise Huff), who has found success as a Broadway star. Janet is ultimately put in a position to save Marcia from making the same mistake she did when the man who destroyed Janet's life shows up as Marcia's producer.