Roger Blake’s chief interest in life is the bag of money he has hidden behind a loose brick in the fireplace. Although his son, Joe, works on his farm more faithfully than any hired man would, Blake refuses to pay him for his services, pointing out that he is given everything he needs. Joe, ashamed of his lack of pocket-money, determines to steal the money he feels is rightfully his. His father catches him in the act and turns him out of the house, in spite of the pleadings of his wife and daughter. Joe finds work with a neighbor, but though he is now paid for his services, he is so homesick and wretched that he would gladly go back on the old basis if his father would forgive. Joe’s sister promises to beg their father to let Joe return and to place a light in the window should he relent. The homesick boy creeps up to the gate of his home, but the light is never there. One night two rowdies from the village plan to rob Blake. They enter the house after the family has retired. Blake is aroused, hurries to the sitting-room, but is quickly overcome by the thieves. In the struggle the bag falls and the money spills. One of the thieves places the lamp on the window sill to get light on the floor where the coins have been lost. Seeing the light in the window, Joe thinks it is the signal he has been waiting for and he hurries joyfully toward the house. After a desperate struggle, he gets the better of the thieves and has them locked up. Blake, who has long realized he was wrong, but has been too stubborn to give in, capitulates, owns that Joe was right and the prodigal is taken back to the bosom of the family.