Back on the East Coast after several months in California, D.W. Griffith filmed the one-reel A Summer Idyll at Biograph's Upstate New York headquarters in Cuddebackville. Advertised as a romantic drama, the film starred Griffith regulars Henry B. Walthall and Gertrude Robinson. A city-bred artist comes to the country, seeking inspiration. He meets and falls in love with a comely young shepherdess, who sees to it that the artist is hired as one of her grandfather's farmhands. Meanwhile, the artist's city sweetheart does her utmost to lure him back into her arms. He tries to resists his former lover's charms, but eventually succumbs, walking out on the shepherdess with nary an explanation. Eventually discovering the reason for the artist's departure, the grief-stricken girl solemnly returns to her grandfather, having been left sadder but wiser. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi