While serving in a Marine brigade at Chateau-Thierry, Bill Benson adopts a war orphan and returns with him to the United States. Bill is discharged from his job as a railroad engineer when his neglect causes a wreck. Bill's ward, Little Bill, is blinded in an explosion at a bridge. Bill has no money for an operation for Little Bill, but when Gregory, the son of the railroad president, kills a man, Bill agrees to help him if he will pay for an operation for Little Bill. Gregory escapes with Bill's assistance, but he goes back on his word and does not help the child. Bill gets a job laying track for another railroad and falls in love with the foreman's daughter. During a raging forest fire, Bill drives an engine through the blazing woods, saving both Little Bill and the railroad company. Little Bill's sight is restored, Bill becomes an engineer again, and he marries the foreman's daughter.
Filmed on location at Klamath Falls, Oregon.
