This recently re-discovered Biograph short features Mary Pickford in her second major screen role. In it, she plays Mary, the sweetheart of Will (Charles West), a country innkeeper's son who heads to the big city and becomes a successful banker. After five years, he returns to his poverty-stricken parents, who do not recognize him and plot to rob their own son. Fortunately, Mary steps in to help the drama end happily. The Son's Return was directed by D.W. Griffith and was shot on location in Leonia and Coytesville, New Jersey.