Summary
In the midst of the sugar plantation's lush verdure in Puerto Rico, a tale of deception and racial tension unfolds. Sam Harris, a black worker, is left crippled for life after a brutal beating by his employer, Hugh Houston, who subsequently attempts to silence him with a monthly stipend. As Houston's secretary, Franklin Harvey, becomes enamored with Houston's daughter Sybil, he concocts a deceitful plan to prevent her marriage to John Carter by falsifying Houston's marriage certificate, insidiously substituting the name of Harris' mother for that of Sybil's, thereby threatening to expose her supposed mixed heritage. The intricate web of lies and racial prejudices eventually unravels, as Sybil outsmarts Franklin, revealing the fallacy of his claims and exposing the depths of his depravity.
Synopsis
Sam Harris, a black worker on the sugar plantation of Hugh Houston in Puerto Rico, is crippled for life when Houston beats him. Huston silences Harris with money and promises him a monthly allotment for the rest of his life. Houston's secretary, Franklin Harvey, is puzzled by Harris' regular appearances at Houston's office. When Houston's daughter Sybil, who lives in Boston, visits her father, she so enchants Harvey that he becomes fiercely determined to marry her. Sybil repulses Franklin's attentions, and after her father dies, Franklin tries to prevent her marriage to the man she loves, John Carter, by falsifying Houston's marriage certificate, substituting the name of Harris' mother for that of Sybil's own. When he threatens to reveal to John that Sybil is part black, she orders him to leave but is later haunted by the fear that her child will be born black. Franklin angrily tells his story to John, and while the two men fight, Sybil rushes into the next room and apparently shoots herself. Remorseful at the thought that Sybil killed herself because of him, Franklin confesses his lie, but Sybil appears at the door unharmed and says she knew he was lying.
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