When her stepmother attempts to marry her off for the family's financial gain, sensitive and beautiful Edna takes drastic measures, disfiguring herself. The scarred woman falls in love with handsome author Marcus Auriel, but soon learns that her shallow stepsister Dorothy is a rival for his affection.

Engrossed in the perfection of a new high power explosive, the husband seems to neglect his wife. She is further piqued by the introduction into their home of a man whose presence is unexplained, but who is really a Secret Service operative guarding the invention. The Government has asked that the wife be kept in ignorance. In this frame of mind the wife lends a ready ear to Aachen, who suggests t...