A low-budget drama with high-budget pretensions, The Love Wager begins by focusing on the relationship between care-worn mother Lucy Beaumont and her scampish son Arthur Rankin. Upset that her boy never comes home before 3 AM, Beaumont decides to go to the police to search for Rankin, but en route she is struck down and killed by a car driven by her own son. Sentenced to 20 years for manslaughter, Rankin commits suicide, whereupon his cellmate Sheldon Lewis rifles through the kid's pockets, finding a letter of introduction to pretty socialite Lenore Bushman. Upon his release, Lewis makes a beeline to Grey's home, and immediately begins formulating plans to steal the girl's pearl necklace. So what does this have to do with a "love wager"? Well, it seems that wealthy bachelor Gaston Glass has bet millionaire W. W. Watson that he, Glass, can make his own living for six months without relying on his family's money. If he succeeds, Glass will permitted to marry Bushman, who happens to be Watson's daughter. Thus, when the girl's necklace turns up missing, guess who gets the blame?