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The old Henry Arthur Jones stage melodrama The Silver King was taken out and brushed off for the screen in 1918. When British gentleman Wilfred Denver (William Faversham) weds the beautiful Nellie (Barbara Castleton), he earns the undying hatred of Nellie's former sweetheart, Geoffrey Ware (John Sutherland). After several years of cozy matrimonial contentment, Denver finds himself heavily in debt. Sensing an opportunity for revenge, Ware gives Denver a "hot tip" on the upcoming English Derby, but the horse runs dead last. Ware then encourages Denver to drown his troubles in liquor, completing his vengeance by dumping the thoroughly besotted hero on Nellie's doorstep, saying in so many words, "I told you so!" Later that evening, Ware is robbed and murdered by a gang of crooks, but it is Denver who is unable to account for his movements during the murder and is threatened with arrest. He escapes to America, where he strikes it rich with a valuable silver mine. Returning to England as "the Silver King," the thoroughly unrecognizable Denver goes the "Monte Cristo" route to clear himself of the murder charge and to orchestrate a reconciliation with Nellie and his now-grown children.