Dan Ryan emigrates to the United States and immediately finds work as a street laborer. While wielding his pick one day. Mary Carter, daughter of the mayor, and Richard Hoyne, her suitor, drive past an automobile. Out of curiosity Mary orders the machine stopped and she takes a Kodak picture of a man with a barrow on a plank. Evincing a liking for politics, Ryan enters the game, and two years later is elected alderman. He and Mary meet and fall in love, Mary failing to recognize in him the former street laborer. He wins her hand. One day, in looking over Mary’s photo album, Hoyne comes across the snapshot of the street gang and recognizes Ryan’s picture. As a result of the revelation, her father compels Mary to break the engagement, telling Ryan that “only a man of good birth can marry his daughter.” Later, Ryan stumbles into a room where Hoyne is bribing a number of aldermen to vote against a public utilities bill. He manages to confiscate the agreement during a fiery speech and the bill is passed, greatly to the joy of the mayor, to whom its defeat would have meant political ruin. Ryan becomes popular with the people and is elected the next mayor. Convinced that the crucible has produced a gentleman, Carter consents to the marriage of his daughter to Ryan. The Kodak picture is given a conspicuous position in the office of the new mayor.