Wealthy Joshua Anson expects his son Chadwick to marry a woman of their class, but much to his chagrin Chadwick falls in love with factory girl Mary McClintock. Anson schemes to break up the romance by framing Mary in a compromising situation, but she outsmarts him and marries Chadwick. Not to be defeated, Anson offers his daughter-in-law $100,000 to divorce his son, but Mary outfoxes him once again by accepting the money, getting a divorce, and then remarrying Chadwick. Mary's last trick wins her father-in-law's respect, and he finally offers the couple his blessings.
Cowboy Mark West lives on a ranch with his sister Mary, who suffers from a serious spinal disorder. Flighty East Coast socialite Violet Ridgeway flirts with Mark while vacationing at the ranch but returns to her fiancée, Dr. Welsh, when she leaves. Mark has been working hard to earn money for an operation Mary, which Doctor Welsh and Doctor Boyd agree to perform without telling him how dangerous it is. When Mary dies Mark receives a letter detailing the doctor’s risk-taking, filled with vengeance Mark kills Boyd, but Welsh flees to safety. Mark is imprisoned, but Violet convinces him to marry her, satisfying a stipulation in her late aunt's will. Mark escapes taking Welsh and Violet hostage. They are set upon by a villain and in the confrontation Welsh’s cowardly act shows Violet Mark’s true worth and the pair escapes to freedom across the Canadian border.
Andrews, a former shipping clerk, has amassed a fortune in cocaine and therefore discourages his daughter May's romance with Joe, a policeman. Andrews prefers socialite Roger Hastings, whom May marries but soon discovers is a drug addict. While May is recovering from a nervous breakdown precipitated by the knowledge of Roger's addiction, he slips cocaine into her medication. Soon she also is addicted, a fact which Roger delightedly reports to Andrews. Andrews then commits May to a sanitarium and Roger becomes a procurer for a gang of white slavers. When the gang abducts his sister Julia and takes her to Roger's brothel, he turns against them. Julia is released, and after many complications, Roger returns to Andrews' house and, during a struggle, sets the house on fire, killing them both.
A DA's son gets involved in a drug-related murder, and it's up to his father and sister to get him out.
A hunchback, sworn to revenge against a woman who rejected him, lures her stepdaughter Elaine to the stage and assists her to become a dancer. Her stepmother goes to see her dance where the hunchback murders her goes mad and falls off a cliff to his death. John Butler, who is loved by Elaine, is accused of killing him, but Elaine clears him of the charge by proving the hunchback was the murderer of her stepmother.
Joan Bruce, leader of the jazz set at Miami, is courted by two men--Ranson Tate, an unscrupulous villain who deserted his wife on becoming wealthy, and Grant North, a young man who ignores her advances until he saves her from drowning. She is compromised by Tate but ultimately is rescued by North.
Because of the loss of three generations of women in her family during childbirth Ellen Locke is frightened to have kids. Frustrated by her decision, her husband John finds himself drawn to his old love, Constance, now a widow with a child who bears her name. After her sister Marion dies in childbirth, Ellen becomes more obsessed, however one day when Ellen is driving little Constance home they have a car accident. An incident in the hospital changes her perspective leading to a reconciliation with John.
Suffering from aphasia after being conked on the head, a man is coerced into robbing his fiancée's home.
The old gardener, attracted by the ducks' antics, goes to the lake to find a basket with a baby in it. He becomes her guardian but passes away when she is fourteen, leaving her the house and garden. Beloved by the woodsman Jean, one day Lionel, a famous painter, approaches her to be his model, and she accepts. Eventually she finds herself torn between the two men.
Betty Brown is an egregious coquette and flirt. She fools a pair of lovers, and her indecision lands her in a pretty mess at a Hartford hotel, where she is cajoled into passing herself off as the wife of a man whose real wife is on her way to meet him. Betty just butts into a sea of trouble, for the man and his wife are to receive some money from the former's uncle on condition that the wife meets with his approval. The general mix-up at the hotel caused by the meeting there of all these opposing interests is the cause of a great deal of fun and confusion, the central figure of which is always Little Miss Betty Brown.
Perpetua is a rich little orphan with a kind but absent-minded dreamer of a guardian, Thaddeus, who is very much older than herself. Perpetua wants to live in Thaddeus's house but instead is sent to her eccentric animal loving Aunt's, Miss Majerdie. Unhappy Perpetua runs away to Thaddeus’s. He endures her for a time and finally ships her back to his Aunt Majerdie's. Pursued by several suitors whose ardor cools when the rumor goes round that she is penniless. Her wealth having intimidated him before Thaddeus steps in now and declares his love for her.
Novice businessman Curtis Jadwin is introduced to the world of grain speculation by veteran broker Charles Cressler. At a performance of Faust, Curtis meets and falls in love with Laura Dearborn, the sweetheart of artist Sheldon Corthell. Curtis pursues Laura and finally convinces her to marry him, but soon after their wedding, he neglects her for his business. In her loneliness, Laura renews her relationship with Sheldon and the lovers plan to elope. When Curtis is ruined on the market, however, Laura rejects her lover and comforts her husband.
Henry Minuet, son of the governor of New Amsterdam, travels to Danvers, now Salem, Mass., to buy grain for the struggling colony. He sees Priscilla Elliott, the daughter of Danvers' physician, and it’s love at first sight even though they do not speak the same language. Priscilla is pursued by Momma’s boy Salvation Hibbens, but she likes him not. When her father dies unexpectedly, Salvation's mother tried to force her to marry Salvation even going as far as to accuse the pair of witchcraft. The lovers flee but can’t return to Henry’s town either since his parents have a marriage arranged for him too. They strike out on their own path to a happy future.
Drama written by the film's star Linda Arvidson, under her married name Linda Griffith, was her both her final screenplay and film appearance.
Montgomery Jackson is initially afraid of conflict, refusing to enlist despite pressure from friends and his fiancée Bettie, but later joins the American Expeditionary Force after Bettie volunteers as a Red Cross nurse.
Two opposing characters are hidden in the person of the inconspicuous London gentleman Dr. Warren and Janus.
Erniedrigte und Beleidigte
A nobleman wishes to help the woman he had seduced and abandoned years earlier when he learns that she is now on trial for murder.
Wilton, a hunchback, who was always scorned and ridiculed by women, returns from Java a rich man after having discovered a diamond mine. He romances Gina, who is on the rebound from a broken affair, and showers her with expensive gifts. After Gina reconciles with her boyfriend, she continues to see Wilton because of what he gives her. After he discovers her perfidy, Wilton develops a poison and mixes it into her lipstick, which will kill any man who kisses her.
The Talbots, formerly one of the Eastern Shore's first families, have gone to seed: Pap is a drunk, soddenly decaying in his ruined ancestral home, and three of his sons (William, Carol, and Ezra) are lazy, shiftless young men. Mulligan, Pap's second son who supports the entire family by oyster fishing, falls in love with wealthy Anna Lee, but when he first kisses her, she calls him "white trash."