- M'liss, a feisty young girl in a mining camp, falls for Charles Gray, the school teacher. Charles is implicated in a murder of which he is innocent, and the two must fight to save him from a lynching.
- M'Liss (Mary Pickford) a scrappy tomboy, lives with her father "Bummer Smith"(Theodore Roberts) in Red Gulch, a rough mining town in the High Sierras. M'Liss is never without her trusty slingshot and delights in mock holdups with the local stagecoach, much to the amusement of the coaches obliging driver Yuba Bill (Charles Ogle). M'Liss's father takes his delight from the bottle much to the annoyance of his daughter. Arriving one day is the new school teacher, Charles Gray (Thomas Meighan) who sets out to try and educate the defiant M'Liss. Meanwhile, the wealthy brother of Bummer Smith who lives in San Francisco has died and has left all of his estate to Bummer. His 2 servants are outraged at the paltry sum they have been left and set about devising a plan to get hold of the full estate. M'liss has developed a crush on the handsome school teacher, and has finally decided to attend the school classes. Finding it hard to fit in, even trying to update her wardrobe, with comical results to the laughter of the other students. Finally her impudent behaviour has her quickly expelled. But not wanting to give up on M'Liss and admiring her bravery, the teacher visits her father and asks if he could personally instruct M'Liss. Now the 2 conniving servants have arrived in town with their plan. They hire oulaw "Mexican Joe" to murder Bummer Smith. After the murder, the female servant appears, claiming to be Bummer"s widow, and therefore heiress to his estate. Yuba Bill breaks the heartbreaking news to M'liss that her father is dead. A shattered M'Liss, goes to the jail to see the murderer and is shocked to find the schoolteacher behind bars, having been arrested as he was the last person seen with Bummer Smith. When the trial begins, M'Liss is the only one believing the teacher is innocent. She refuses to believe the servant, claiming to be her father's widow, is her mother. Finally the teacher is sentenced to sixty years in jail, but Mexican Joe incites the town full of miners to have a lynching. Meanwhile Yuba Bill has caught on to the male servant, and has told him of his suspicions, warning he will get the real killer. Now M'Liss and Yuba Bill help the teacher escape from jail. Meanwhile, the panicked servant decides to flee town on horseback, as the now wild lynching mob discovers the prisoner has escaped , they give chase after the man on horseback. Catching up to him, they are surprised it is not the teacher. The terrified servant points to Mexican Joe for squealing, and the truth about the murder comes out. M'liss is now informed she is the real heiress and is happily reunited with teacher Charles Gray.
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