Quote:
"Despite [the] action-driven narrative and episodic structure [of The Grub-Stake], and its three plotlines, the plot's construction is solid and clear. We are shown, in order, a poor girl seeking to improve her situation; an older rich man tricking her into marriage but only so as to exploit her as a dance hall hostess; the girl escaping with a dog-sled but getting lost in the wilderness; the girl first afraid but then cared for and accommodated by the wilderness' inhabitants; the girl being retrieved by her soon-to-be lover but finding herself in the vexed position of being married to a man she does not love; the girl facing an arrest warrant for dog theft although what she had taken from her counterfeit husband was only what he was unwilling to give despite having promised it to her; and, finally, the girl managing to get rid of her husband and liberating herself for the true love of her life. Already from this scanty synopsis, it may be clear that the story hinges on 'things' and 'people' not being what they initially seem or pretend to be."
-- Annette Förster

Source:
Förster, Annette. "Nell Shipman and the American Silent Cinema." In Women in the Silent Cinema: Histories of Fame and Fate. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017. (p. 401)