Harold was born into a poor family who rejected him. After years of abuse he ran away and lived on the streets. Having established a happy life an incident with a prostitute throws his life into turmoil and leads to an accidental murder. Escaping to London he establishes himself working in Convent Garden market and meets a young woman. They have a great relationship until Harold assaults her in his search for sex. She will not lay charges so he thinks he has got off, but the police recognize that he is not who he says he is. Convicted of murder he spends years in prison. He then goes back to London where he falls in with a gang of jewel thieves. All is good for a few years until he is arrested and sent back to prison. On release he loses his temper with a gangmaster who won't give him his wages he beats him up and escapes from Nottingham. He ends up in Ipswich where he sees a lady who he thinks would make a good wife, something he yearns for. He kidnaps her but they find that they both wanted to get away from their families. They work on a farm which is left to them when the widow dies. They have years of happiness then her son finds them and tells the police. Harold goes back to jail. But now he has someone waiting for him and on his release she is waiting to marry him.