I Can't Escape

After serving five years in prison on a trumped-up charge, Steve Nichols meets and falls in love with Mae, a young but world-weary woman of the streets. The couple pledges to "stay straight" and then marries. Because of his criminal record, however, Steve struggles to find a job, but finally is offered work as a salesman for a bond house, which promises to make him a partner if he sells $100,000 in securities to a widow. Unaware that the bond house is run by crooks, Steve, who now goes by the name Cummings, accepts the position. Soon after, penniless Tom Martin shows up at the bond house and confesses to Steve that he is looking for the man who ruined his father in a crooked stock deal, which then led to his suicide. Steve realizes that Tom is searching for him and, to soften his vengeful desires, offers to take him in as a payless boarder. Eventually Tom, who has fallen in love with Mae, discovers Steve's real identity and confronts him with the crime. Steve, however, tracks down the men who framed him and proves to Tom that he is innocent. After the real criminals are brought to justice, Steve forgives Tom for his feelings toward Mae and finally frees himself from the burden of his past.