A dope fiend, so deep in drugs that he is beyond redemption, finds a boy in a poolroom. He tells the boy to leave the place while there is yet time, but the youth laughs and, like the moth, continues to flitter close to the flame. The boy goes home and robs his own mother, then returns to the dive to gamble. The dope fiend sees in the boy's face what he has done and be again remonstrates and tells him to take the money back. The boy promises to do this and the fiend leaves him. A number of youthful crooks, fresh from a robbery, trailed by the police, enter the room and fearing to carry their loot around with them, unload it on the boy. Before leaving him they give him a revolver. In the next room a gambler has an altercation with a victim. The victim runs into the room where the boy is seated. The gambler shoots through the door and kills his man. In his nervousness the boy discharges the revolver in his hand. The police enter and arrest the boy for the murder. The dope fiend enters and notices the bullet hole in the door. He enters the next room and finds the gambler's revolver. Realizing that his own life is worthless, he takes the blame for the murder to save the boy. However, the discovery of the gambler hiding in a closet reveals the real murderer and both dope fiend and boy are released. The boy and the fiend left alone, the boy promises that he will forever forsake such dives.