Construction engineer Alan Scott survives an explosion during a test crossing of a trestle bridge and learns he was saved by the green lantern he carried. The lantern tells how long ago a meteor was formed into a lamp by a Chinese lampmaker and how it protected him from his murderous neighbors. Later the lamp was found by an asylum inmate, who re-formed it into a lantern and was cured of his insanity by the lantern. Now it brings power to Scott, who forms a ring out of part of it and uses his new abilities to force a confession for the sabotage of the bridge out of Dekker, a rival contractor.