Rev. Paul Manson, pastor of St. Mark's Church, is ordered to the country for his health. While he is sojourning in a lumber camp with Wilks, his guide, he reads of his "sudden death" in his home-town newspaper. Rev. Manson has longed to clean up the slums of his city, and decides to return incognito and do so. Upon his return he is met by a street urchin, Sid Farley, who recognizes him as his missing father, Joe Farley. Rev. Manson is recognized by the boy's mother, Mary, also, as her husband, and he does not deny it. Under the guise of Joe Farley, Rev. Manson begins the work of uplifting the slum district. Though he does not live at Mary's home, declaring he is tired of her, Manson gradually recognizes her good impulses and falls in love with her. Manson has just triumphed over an evil political ring in the slums when he is recognized by Mrs. Sewell Wright as the supposedly dead Rev. Manson. But having attained his ambition in the slums he remains there, marrying Mary.