The body of a man, charred beyond recognition, is all that the rescue party finds on entering Hollis' room. This corpse is believed to be that of Jack Hollis, and all his friends, particularly Nellie Bland, who was in love with him, mourn his untimely end. Hollis had been in love with Nellie and his love was returned, but he was too bashful to propose to her. In order to aid him in overcoming this bashfulness, Nellie allows him to think that she is encouraging Ned Dunton. Her plan succeeds too well. Hollis takes her action to heart and continually broods on the matter. Jealous to the point of insanity he calls her up on the telephone. She decides to treat him coldly. Frantic over her actions, Hollis tells her he is about to shoot himself and says good-bye. She then hears a shot over the wire and all is still. Jeff, Jack's roommate, also hears the shot, and hurries up to the room. Here he sees Jack lying on the floor with a revolver by his side. He feels his heart, and, thankful that it still beats, rushes out for the doctor. After Jeff's departure, a burglar enters the room and Hollis, who had been acting, in order to frighten Nellie, stands up to grapple with the intruder, and stuns him. Jack then locks the door and leaves through the window, not noticing that a match which he dropped is igniting the trash basket. In a very short time the bed is in flames, and the clothes of the unconscious burglar, who has fallen on it, catch fire. When the rescue party returns, they find the door locked, and after considerable difficulty succeed in breaking it. Inside, they extinguish the flames and find the charred body with Hollis' watch, which caught on a button of the coat during the struggle. Hollis decides to hide and get even with Nellie. Ned Dunton calls on Nellie, and after some time gets her consent to his proposal. She delays setting a date for the wedding, for she cannot forget her old love for Hollis. The latter has a vivid dream in which he sees his friend Jeff, accusing Nellie of his murder. This vision fills him with a premonition of evil, and repentant of his cowardly action, he writes to Jeff, telling him the truth. Jeff induces Hollis to return to Nellie, who is overcome with joy at seeing him once more and breaks her engagement to Dunton to be free to marry him.