The Foster Brother

Paul Burke is an adopted son of Dr. Burke. The doctor had promised the dying wife of a drunkard and gambler to care for the child. Paul has three cuts upon his wrist which he carries through life as a result of his father's fury while in a drunken frenzy. Edwin Burke, the doctor's son, is in love with Edith, a ward. Paul becomes jealous and goes out to a gambling den. While playing poker he is caught cheating by the owner of the den, Paul's real father. The gambler recognizes his son by the marks on his wrist. He takes advantage of the fact that the young man is in debt and has cheated at cards. He persuades Paul to steal a formula of a cancer cure which the doctor has discovered. While Paul and his real father are in the home of the doctor to secure the valuable data, Paul turns a gun on him and in the fight that follows he is injured. The police are after the gambler and trap him in the laboratory, where he is killed in a skirmish. Paul, although inheriting the gambling instinct from his father, saves the formula and proves that his present home environment has helped make a man of him. —Moving Picture World synopsis