Grimshaw, a wealthy man, is cruel by nature. He refuses to allow his girl to see or receive attentions from Harry, a young man of sterling character, but poor. Grimshaw instructs his agent to secure the rent from his tenants on the first of the month and when some of them visit him to beg leeway, he refuses. They leave, cursing him. He goes up to his daughter's room and finds her in tears. Later, he returns downstairs and falls asleep musing. He dreams that he is dead. He sees himself in his coffin. He dreams that his daughter dies and she, in spirit, takes him to her sweetheart and shows him the cold body of the boy that died by his own hand through grief. She takes her father to his tenements and there amid the squalid surroundings he sees the struggle for existence. He then sees himself in his coffin and all the people he has abused point their fingers at him. He awakens with a start, glad to find that it was only a dream. However, the dream has made such an impression on him that he turns over a new leaf; he permits his daughter to marry the man she loves and allows the tenants plenty of time to pay their rent.
—Moving Picture World synopsis