How Long Is “Station Content”?

Kitty Manning (Gloria Swanson) lives with her husband, Jim (Lee Hill), a telegraph operator, at a remote railway station. After her baby dies, she can no longer stand the loneliness of the place and joins a musical show as a chorus girl. While Jim is making his way up in the railway company, Kitty is noticed by Stephen Morton, the railroad's president (Arthur Millet). Morton's wife, (Nellie Allen) only cares about his money, and he makes Kitty a proposition. She asks him to wait while she decides, but when she misses a connection as she's heading for the city, she is stuck at a station very much like the one she left. A couple is happily living there with their baby, but the husband is very ill. Since Kitty knows telegraphy, she offers to help out so that the husband can go to the hospital. While she is in charge, the trestle is struck by lightning. Kitty keeps the arriving express train from wrecking, and on board are both her husband and Morton. She turns down Morton's offer and reunites with her husband. Although Gloria Swanson had nothing good to say about this programmer in her 1980 autobiography, her performance was noted favorably by critics of the day.