Cicely Osborne marries laborer John Ashton, to help provide for her mother. At their wedding dinner in a cabaret, John flirts with a woman, whose enraged escort slays him. At home, Cicely finds her mother dead. While contemplating suicide, Cicely notices that a lieutenant having the same name as her husband died in the war. She tells the lieutenant's aristocratic parents that she and John were secretly wed, and soon ingratiates herself. Only John's crippled cousin, Philip, suspects her. John returns, having been only wounded, and seeing that his mother loves Cicely, he continues the masquerade. Philip, thinking that Cicely is giving John sexual favors to keep from being exposed, threatens to blackmail her himself. John falls in love with Cicely and jealously follows her to meet Philip. They fight and John's war wound is reopened. Thinking that he is dying, John summons a priest, who solemnizes his union with Cicely. John later recovers and the two resume their life together.