The story relates the attempt of a group of machine politicians at Washington to ruin Matthew Standish, an insurgent who has made himself so strong with the people that he is in a position to defeat the Mullin's bill, fostered by a corrupt ring in Washington, in favor of certain railroads. The leaders of this ring are Jim Blake, who is the boss of the party machine, and his son-in-law, Mark Robertson. Standish is being hailed throughout the country as the exponent of morals and virtue, and Blake realizes that the only way to defeat him is to find some blot on his record in the past. He puts a detective to work, who, by bribing Standish's former secretary, finds out that some years ago Standish became involved with a young woman of good family, and that for some reason he did not marry her. Blake realizes that skillfully handled, this story could be made to ruin Standish's career, but without the name of the woman it will look like a campaign lie. So the entire machine bends its energy to discovering the identity of the woman in order to prove the story. To accomplish this, they lay a trap, which they think, will make Standish try to warn the woman by telephone. He is deceived and does telephone the woman to be on her guard, calling the number, Plaza 1001. Wanda Kelly, telephone girl at the Keswick, has been told of the plan by Blake, who believes that she can be bribed to give him the telephone number. After Standish telephones, Robertson, Blake's son-in-law, comes in to 'phone his home in New York, calling the same number that Standish has just called. Wanda, the operator, sees that the woman in the case is really Blake's daughter and Robertson's wife, and besides refusing to give the number, destroys her record sheet. Mrs. Robertson arrives from New York and is driven to desperation when Standish informs her that, though he has tried to protect her, he shall have to give her name to Blake and Robertson if they continue striving to ruin him by this story. The subsequent events leading to the conclusion of the drama and the defeat of the offensive Mullins bill in Congress are stirring in the extreme. Once again the telephone girl interferes in the plot by disconnecting the wires when the "ring'' politicians, driven to their last ditch, are trying to telephone a newspaper to release the story even without the name of the woman. She keeps her courage after this, even when threatened with arrest and criminal prosecution. It is the woman herself who finally comes to the rescue and refuses to see the little telephone girl made to suffer further on her behalf. This terrible revelation makes Blake and Robertson see what a veritable little heroine she has been and even leads to the happy consummation of a romance between the telephone operator and Jim Blake's son.