Carl Behrend, son of a wealthy businessman, marries Pauli Arndt, daughter of a pacifist professor. When World War I breaks out, Carl is drafted. Pauli and her family and friends are left behind to experience the suffering which befell civilians during the war. Her luck worsens when her father is dismissed from his professorship for teaching that war is evil. Her father argues violently with Carl's father, and degradation and despair descend on Pauli and her family as they await Carl's return from the front.

Lillian Gish
as Pauli Arndt

Ralph Forbes
as Carl Behrend

Ralph Emerson
as Bruce Gordon

Frank Currier
as Prof. Arndt

George Fawcett
as August Bejremd

Fritzi Ridgeway
as Mitzi Winkelmann

John S. Peters
as Fritz Winkelmann

Karl Dane
as Jan

Polly Moran
as Baruska

Billy Kent Schaefer
as Kurt