Jack, a manual labourer, is unable to obtain work in the country after being laid off. He leaves his sweetheart, Mary, and goes to London looking for work. Mary later arrives in London, having obtained a position as a housemaid, in order to be near Jack. Jack is unsuccessful in his search for work and, in desperation, burgles a house one night. Unfortunately, the house he has chosen to burgle is the one in which Mary works. He is interrupted in his burglary by Mary. He begs her forgiveness and puts the stolen property back but is discovered by Mary's employer and the other servants who lock him up in a room and send for the police. Mary, who has fainted when her sweetheart was discovered, recovers and releases Jack from the locked room before the police arrive. Later Jack is successful in his search for work and united with Mary: they see another man being arrested and led away for a crime. Jack turns to Mary and says, "But for you that would have been my fate."