The Lady Clare

Wealthy playboy Jack Edmunds spends some time in a small mountain town, where he makes the acquaintance of local girl Caprtice Talbert and invites her to his apartment. When Caprice's father finds out about it--although nothing happened--he forces the two to marry, and the newlyweds move to Jack's home in the city. Tensions arise between the two as Jack is still resentful over the "shotgun wedding" and Caprice finds that she can't bear living in the big city and wants to return home.

Shirley Kaye is the vivacious daughter of Egerton Kaye, president of the great Union Central Railroad. The latter holds his position through his descent from "Pirate" Kaye, who founded the line, rather than through any executive ability of his own. Shirley is queen of the most exclusive Long Island set, and as clever as she is lovely to look at. From the West comes T.J. Magen, a rough but lion-hearted financier, who buys the house next door to the Kayes. Magen cares little for society, and the elaborate household which their wealth forces them to support is a constant worry to his simple and unassuming wife. But the daughter, "Daisy," yearns, with all her heart to break into the society and swim where Shirley Kaye reigns supreme.

Actress Nina Seabury is primarily interested in her lovers' wealth. Nina begins a relationship with Emory Townsend, whom she mistakenly believes is a wealthy bank president. He is merely a bank cashier. Desperate to fund Nina’s expensive tastes and maintain the illusion of wealth, Emory steals $12,000 from his bank. Despite his sacrifice, Nina ultimately breaks up with him. Following the split, Emory finds true love with Mary Winslow.

Vivacious little Gilberte, known as Frou Frou, is the daughter of M. Brigard, a retired merchant, who has as his companion in a life of gaiety, Comte Paul de Valreas, a much younger man. Both the Count and Henry de Sartorys are in love with Frou Frou, and when De Sartorys asks for the hand of Frou Frou, M. Brigard refers him to Louise, the elder daughter, who is in charge of the household. To Louise, who loves de Sartorys, comes the first anguish of her life, when he confides his love for Frou Frou. However, she confers with her little sister who agrees to marry De Sartorys. Paul also asks for Frou Frou's hand, but Brigard refuses, stating he is too jolly a companion to be trusted as a son-in-law.

After his beloved daughter leaves for the city to pay off his debt, an old farmer goes mad when her letters become less frequent and it is suspected she may be using her body to get the money.

Surgeon Crisp announces to his student doctors and friends that he has solved the problem of limb-grafting, and shows proofs. Among those deeply interested is Mortmain, a musician and a friend of the surgeon.

The picture starts with Robert Warwick walking into the office of director Albert Capellani (the film's actual director). Capellani offers him the role of a heavy and hands him the script. The next four reels show Warwick playing a Raffles-like character, an ingenious crook who moves through society, committing robberies and even murder.

Fernande marries a man and schemes to get his wealth when his expected death occurs. But he dies before he can change his will. She next tries to kill the son who inherits, but he outfoxes her.

Edwin Rowley is a talented but uncommercial playwright. Stephen Hunt is a successful theatrical manager. Rowley finishes a brilliant play and sends it to Hunt for production. Recognizing it as a masterpiece, Hunt puts his own name on the play and produces it, achieving fame as a playwright. Upon discovery of the theft the shock is too much for Rowley’s wife, who dies. Rowley, devastated, loses his sanity and disappears. Hunt decides to adopt Rowley's orphaned son and raises him as his own. Years later, Rowley, wandering aimlessly, sees a poster advertising his play with his own name on it. This sight brings him back to his senses. Rowley and Hunt are reconciled, and Rowley finally receives public recognition and enjoys his success as the true author of the play.

Julian Randolph, a disreputable lawyer, gains an ad interim appointment to the Supreme bench as a reward for fixing a jury that acquits the brother of the political boss of a charge of murder. He was promised the nomination for the full term at the next election, but gains it only through threat of exposure of a bigamous marriage contracted by the boss. Then comes love for a noble woman and the question whether he shall take defeat with honor or gain seeming honor at the cost of his manhood. It is a momentous problem, but he makes a decision that proves him worthy of the robes of honor.

To stave off war with a neighboring kingdom, Princess Pat of Paxitania agrees to marry Warburg's King Eric. Still very young and rebellious, the new queen finds it difficult to adjust to court life, and when she accepts an invitation to take a ride with the villainous Count Ladislaus, King Eric's patience gives out and he rebukes her severely. The banished count informs Pat's father, the Grand Duke of Paxitania, that she is cruelly abused, whereupon Pat's three brothers set out to bring her back home.

Denounced for preaching socialism Reverend Frank Gordon founds his own "Temple of Man." financed by Kate Ransom, the woman Gordon has fallen in with love and entered into a common-law agreement with after divorcing his wife. With the outbreak of World War I, however, the members of his new congregation oppose conscription while he wholeheartedly supports the Allied cause. Driven from his own church, he returns home to find Kate in banker Mark Overman's arms, enraged he strangles the banker. Sentenced to life imprisonment, his ex-wife Ruth pleads with Governor Morrison to pardon the errant clergyman. Gordon is allowed to return to his family.

Failing to get a loan from Nicholas Eyre, the Steel King and friend of his wife's father, Robert Lathrop induces his wife to beg for the money he plans to spend upon his mistress. He is given a check. Hurrying to Lola's apartments, he finds her in the arms of her lover, Haskell. In the fight that follows, Lathrop is killed and left in the park. Believing her husband to be a suicide because Eyre refused to advance him funds, the wife plans to revenge what she considers his murder, but enlightenment comes after terrible damage has been done.

Law partners, Gerard Hale and Luther Snaith, vie for a vacant Senate seat as well as the governor's daughter Marion. When Tom Shores and his sister Mary appear at the firm with the news that her two-year-old is the illegitimate child of Gerard's late father, Gerard Hale, Sr., Snaith sees the opportunity to win both the Senate seat and Marion. Gerard, feeling an obligation, gives Mary a check for $50,000. Luther has Mary and Tom seized by detectives to force an open admission from Gerard of culpability. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hale and Marion have stopped in to visit and Gerard, fearing the truth will prove fatal to his mother's ailing heart, claims that the baby is his. Mrs. Hale is confined to bed and Snaith blackmails Gerard to withdraw from the race. Mrs. Hale asks Gerard to do his duty and wed Mary. Mary wants to be truthful, but Gerard fears that may prove fatal to his mother. However, when Mrs. Hale dies, Gerard is freed from the shackles of truth.

A waiter in love with a countess assumes the identity of an aristocrat.

To track an elusive mountain still, Secret Service agent Dorothy Madison goes undercover as an artist, faking an injury to infiltrate the home of a handsome moonshiner named Dave. There, she must maintain her cover while dealing with Dave's suspicious mother and Nell, a hostile, rifle-toting local girl.

Richard Lawrence, an Army Aviator, introduces his friend, Count Zurich, to Zenia, his father's beautiful ward. The Count becomes infatuated with the girl and determines to win her. General Lawrence, Richard's father, is ordered to prepare for war. as Prince Dureseign is gathering an army to overthrow the government. In a terrific battle, the forces of Dureseign are driven back. Zenia and Richard fall in love, he proposes and she accepts him. Dureseign's forces are greatly augmented in numbers, surround General Lawrence's army and the General sends his son in a fast aeroplane for reinforcements.

Ruth Carroll, a schoolteacher in New York's Lower East Side, meets Bolshevist Alexis Minski at her grandfather's bookstore. After Ruth complains to her superintendent about undernourished schoolchildren, Minski's ravings cause her suspension, and she joins the Reds. Meanwhile, Captain Nathan Levison, returning from the Argonne, is assigned by the Secret Service to investigate New York's radicals. While visiting the Carrolls to announce the imminent arrival of Ruth's brother Davy, who saved Levison's life but lost his foot, Levison falls in love with Ruth. Chagrined, Minski convinces Ruth that Levison plans to arrest her and her grandfather, whereupon Ruth furiously requests that Levison be killed. After Governor Alfred E. Smith signs a bill making it illegal to display the Red flag, the Bolshevists plot to assassinate him, the Mayor of Seattle, and Attorney General Alexander Palmer, but Davy, with other soldiers, break up the meeting.

Belle Bennett plays as the widowed mother of seven children living in Sioux City, Iowa. She moves with them to Cambridge, Massachusetts in order to educate her children with culture and give them every advantage. Bennett, who is unversed in financial matters, soon faces poverty for herself and her children. She takes out a loan from an unscrupulous lender (played by Richard Tucker), who is so impressed by the charm and valiant spirit of Bennett than he neglects to ask her for collateral. Bennett, however, is only able to partially pay her creditors. Marion Nixon, Bennett's eldest daughter, is shocked by her mother's actions and attempts to sacrifice herself to Tucker in order to clear her mother's obligations, even though she is engaged to marry a well to do Harvard undergraduate, played by Rex Bell. This film is believed lost.

Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.