Plot

Harold Bond, a young artist of great promise, had, through the aid of millionaire manufacturer John Fair, gained distinction and was engaged to his patron's daughter Geraldine. One day while proceeding to the Bond residence in a motor yacht, he encounters Elaine Strange, daughter of deaf-mute lock-keeper Dan Strange; she assists him in his work and speaks for him when bargaining for passage through the locks. At once Harold becomes attracted to the beautiful barefoot girl and believes that he has discovered in her the model for a masterpiece which he will call "The Girl of the Locks." Elaine soon mistakes Harold's artistic enthusiasm for a more serious sentiment and falls hopelessly in love with him. Her father deeply opposes this apparently hopeless attachment because she has promised to someday wed young boatman Steve Hart, big of frame and fiery of nature. But despite the father's and lover's careful watching, there are many secret sittings of artist and model. The masterpiece is finished and an exposition of it announced at the Bond home. Steve and Dan angrily forbid Elaine to attend the reception; when she persists in doing so, they lock her in her room. After returning the engagement ring to her lover and declaring to her father that she will not long remain a prisoner, true to her vow she creeps from her window in the dead of night, proceeds to the Bond mansion in a boat, and is given shelter and protection there. But encouraged by the taunts of Jack Case, himself in love with Geraldine Fair, the jealous fiancée cuts the picture into ribbons and drives Elaine away. This results in a breaking of the engagement between Harold and Geraldine and a second picture m is painted and exhibited in spite of many encounters with the fiery Steve, in one which Harold nearly loses his life. But Elaine is again doomed to disappointment. Harold's long period of work without profit plunges him into debt and out of gratitude toward Mr. Fair, who releases his obligations, he again becomes engaged to Geraldine. When the wedding is announced Elaine totters faintly to the church and falls unconscious as bride and groom appear in the door. She is taken to the Bond home where she is found to be near death and her father is summoned. He arrives just after she passes away, and in a frenzy of grief he bears her from the house to his boat, again carrying out the picture drawn by Tennyson, "The Dead, Steered by the Dump Went Upward on the Flood."—Moving Picture World synopsis