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
Louise Emmons
as (uncredited)
Betty Jane Graham
as Little Girl (uncredited)
