Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) leaves his native China. He "dreams to spread the gentle message of Buddha to the Anglo-Saxon lands." His idealism fades in London’s brutal and gritty inner-city. He meets and grows devoted to the "broken blossom" Lucy Burrows (Lillian Gish). She is the beautiful but unwanted and abused daughter of prizefighter Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp).