Henry Strong, a young civil engineer, is placed in charge of a party which makes a preliminary survey for a railroad. In their work they enter the property of Colonel Carlton who objects decidedly to the invasion of his ancestral land. Henry secures the aid of the sheriff, who convinces Carlton that the young engineer is acting within his rights but the Colonel develops a spirit of animosity toward the surveyor. Lovie Carlton, the Colonel's daughter, does not share her father's opinion and falls deeply in love with Strong. Knowing that they cannot hope to secure the father's consent, the young people are secretly married and leave for South America, where Strong has secured a promising position. Several years pass. The Colonel refuses to read his daughter's letters and sends them back unopened. One adversity follows another until the old gentleman is ruined financially and finally dispossessed. His faithful servant. Uncle Tom, endeavors to secure employment that he may aid the Colonel but no one will engage the old negro. One afternoon Uncle Tom visits a place where palms are being cut and shipped to different cities for the Palm Sunday services. A little child tells the negro the story of the palm and, much impressed, he asks her to send a prayer for the Colonel. The little one therefore scribbles a message on a palm reading: "Please God, tell Miss Lovie Carlton that Uncle Tom wants her to come home, 'cause he ain't able to take care of Colonel Carlton no longer." At the Palm Sunday services in a distant city the palm comes into the hands of Lovie's little boy who hands it to his mother to decipher. Lovie's husband has prospered and the message of the palm is the means of making the old Colonel's last days very happy.