The Runaway Bride

Mary Gray and Dick Mercer elope to Atlantic City, hoping to marry away from her wealthy parents. They check into a modest hotel room, where Dick presses for a future as a husband while Mary worries about the consequences. An argument escalates as Mary tries to call off the marriage, but Dick locks her in and goes to fetch a minister.

Red Dugan robs a jewelry store and slips into Mary’s room, where he hides the stolen necklace in her handbag. He and a pursuing policeman fatally shoot each other in the ensuing confrontation. The incident drags Mary into the crime, setting off a chain of events that follow her through the city.

Chambermaid Clara Muldoon arrives to change the linen and Mary asks for a hiding place, giving her $300. Clara is about to switch jobs, but provides Mary with her new job information instead. After Mary leaves, Dugan tells Clara that he 'put it in her bag' before dying, revealing the necklace is hidden in Mary’s belongings.

Police Sergeant Daly questions Clara and then accuses Dick of being Dugan’s associate when he returns. Daly takes the pair in for further grilling, pressing them for alibis and forcing them to confront the case’s tangled connections. The interrogation sets the stage for Mary and Dick to be swept up by the law.

Under the alias 'Sally Fairchild,' Mary goes to work at the home of wealthy bachelor George Blaine. George and his valet notice her polished manners and the MG monogram on her purse, which unsettles them. When a policeman asks for directions and Mary faints, George decides to hire her anyway, and later he finds a pearl necklace in her purse.

Clara, part of the gang, informs the thieves what she knows about Mary and the loot. Barney Black, the gang leader, decides to wait until the dust settles before reclaiming the necklace.

George reads a newspaper article about Mary Gray’s elopement, complete with a photo, and discharges her. However, his growing attraction to Mary leads him to give her a second chance and rehire her.

Clara confronts Mary and demands half of the necklace’s proceeds. Mary offers a valuable ring to appease her, but while she’s distracted, Clara finds and steals the necklace from Mary’s purse.

Dick Mercer returns with Clara’s information, and the jewel thieves abduct Mary during the chaos. Sergeant Daly and the gang close in as the abduction unfolds. The confrontation tightens the net around the criminals, setting up the final rescue.

Daly corners Clara as she tries to slip away and she agrees to surrender the pearls in exchange for leniency. The police secure leverage over the gang and press for the location of the loot.

George drives after Mary to rescue her, but Barney shoots him in the shoulder and punctures his tires, hindering the pursuit. The confrontation leaves George wounded and the car disabled as the criminals press on toward their hideout.

The gang heads to their hideout—a fake hospital—where the climactic showdown unfolds. George, tipped off by a suspicious doctor, arrives to rescue Mary just as the police close in, and the criminals are arrested.