As described in a film magazine,[4] Katusha (Frederick), a servant, betrayed by Prince Nekludov (Elliott), a Russian officer and member of nobility, is forced through the inexorable Russian custom to become a woman of the streets. As a social outcast she is accused of the murder of prominent merchant and sentenced to Siberia by a jury on which the army officer is a member. Overcome by remorse he seeks the Czar and obtains a pardon for Katusha. Upon his arrival in Siberia he gives her the pardon and offers, in atonement for the wrong he has done her, to make her his wife. In the meantime, however, she has been taught right living by Simonson (St. Polis), a peasant, and is determined to stay with him until his sentence is complete.