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Jack Wayne, a dissolute young fellow, staggers into his home one evening in a state of intoxication, to find his father on his death-bed. Before the aged man dies he warns Jack to beware of the hand of evil, and points to a shrouded painting on the wall depicting a jeweled hand holding a sword by a chain. Jack is dazed at the sight of the painting and hurries from the room. After the death of his father young Wayne loses heavily at cards and one evening is about to appropriate some funds from his mother's private safe when he is startled to see the shroud fade from the painting and the hand of evil points directly at him. Frightened, he watches the shroud return into place, then staggers from the room in a panic of fear. Several months afterward he calls one evening upon his sweetheart, Grace, only to discover his rival. Morrell, seated close beside her, in a frenzy of jealous rage Wayne whips out a gun and is about to murder Morrell when suddenly a ghostly hand appears in the air before him, holding a hangman's noose. Recoiling from the apparition, Wayne realizes the folly of such step, recovers his composure, enters the room and finds Morell extending an apology to Grace for not having noticed the engagement ring upon her finger. Five years later Wayne has married and is beset with business difficulties. He attempts to secure a loan from a banker, but his securities are worthless. Seizing upon an opportunity he takes a blank check from the banker's desk and that night is about to forge it when the warning hand again appears to him and drops ghostly handcuffs upon his wrists. Leaping up wildly Wayne discovers they are vanished as quickly as they appeared. A moment later he receives a letter offering him a fortune for some mine holdings. The warning hand has proved his salvation.—Moving Picture World synopsis imdb.com