Plot

James Wadsworth sets his sights on lovely society girl Anna Dalton and determines to marry her. To achieve that goal, he follows her everywhere she goes, including on a ship to South America. He comes up with a plan to make her love him: he throws her overboard, follows her over the side, and swims with her to a deserted island. His somewhat unorthodox method works and he wins over Anna, but problems arise when Richard Towne, Anna's fiancé who has been searching for her, finds the island and discovers the two.—frankfob2@yahoo.com

James Wadsworth, a Northwoodsman with little education but full of truth, loyalty and courage, sells his valuable lumber properties to a syndicate and comes to New York full of the determination to do things there as he did in the West. At the station he sees Anna Dalton awaiting her brother, who has just graduated from college. He promptly falls in love with her, takes the number of her car, and as brother and sister drive away, he goes to a hotel. The Daltons, with Towne, sail on a cruise, and Wadsworth goes on the same steamer. He rescues Anna's handbag from a thief and gives it to her brother, beginning their acquaintance. Wadsworth bribes the purser to give him a vacant seat at the Dalton table, where his presence is resented by all but the son, the family snubbing him but the son speaking in his favor. His manners cause resentment on Anne's part and when he rescues her brother from gamblers in the card room by fighting the crowd, she and Towne see the affair. His wrist has been hurt and she ties it up for him, although Towne has called him a "barroom loafer." Wadsworth makes love to Anna, and she, in a revulsion of feeling, tells him that she has accepted Towne. Wadsworth, made almost insane by this, and obsessed by the idea of primitive love with her on a desert isle, takes advantage of a fog and some wreckage drifting by, drops her overboard and plunges after her. Reaching the wreckage with her, they float off, while after a futile search the ship goes on. They reach their island and after Wadsworth has saved her from savages, the inevitable happens. They love and mate. Anna's disappearance makes her mother ill, but as soon as she is able to go, a cruise in search of Anna starts, in which Towne takes part. A year later, as the search is being abandoned, the Daltons find the island. Wadsworth sees the yacht, and climbing to the top of what they have called a "signal tree," attracted the attention of the people on board. Just then a branch breaks and he falls, breaking a leg. A boat from the yacht lands, Anna, tending her babe, sees her father and Towne. They induce her to go to the yacht, after Towne has been sent to the "signal tree" to tell Wadsworth. He reports that Wadsworth has been killed by a fall, but has left him helpless and hurt. The boat reaches the yacht and with Anna unconscious, they sail away. Wadsworth crawls back to the hut, and faints. The parents plead with Anna to marry Towne to give the child a name, and at last she consents. In the meantime a cruising naturalist finds Wadsworth, fixes him up and brings him back to civilization, where he learns that Anna is to marry Towne. Believing that Anna has deserted him, Wadsworth determines never to look on the face of woman again, changes his name, and feigns blindness. He is introduced, four years later, to the Dalton house, as the literary lion of the hour, having written a famous novel. He meets Towne and removing his glasses, shows Towne the man he had left to die on the island. Terror-stricken, Towne goes to his room and shoots himself. Later, Anna and her child go into the room where Wadsworth is and Anna recognizes Wadsworth. They embrace, showing that "the chain invisible" has held throughout all the trials to which they have been subjected.—Moving Picture World synopsis