Young Victor Jones of America is discovered to be an exact lookalike for England's Earl of Rochester, a circumstance which results in Jones deciding to replace the Earl after an unfortunate accident.
Adventuress Leonie Sobatsky falls in love with a young man named Nevil Trask, and he with her. Trask doesn't know that Leonie is actually the head of an international smuggling ring--and Leonie doesn't know that Trask is an undercover Secret Service agent assigned to break up the ring and capture its head.
To protect her brother, a nightclub entertainer Queenie Morgan marries a gangster. She bears a resemblance to a society girl who has gotten involved with the underworld and wound up shooting her gangster boyfriend, and the gang forces Queenie to impersonate the woman in order to extort money from her wealthy parents. Unfortunately the society girl is killed by the gang, and the police arrest Queenie for the murders of both the society girl and her boyfriend.
Glenn Higgins and Patsy Jones are a song-and-dance team traveling the vaudeville circuit across the United States, and land in a Kentucky tank-town filled with sharpies and wise-guys , wearing spats and carrying canes, who have reasons for wanting a horse named "Hot Heels, not to win the race he is scheduled to run in. This does not bode well for the vaudevillians as Glenn, acting on a hot tip from a hot vamp, has bet the pair's bankroll on "Hot Heels" to win.
Retired actress poses as dresser to scare murderer into confessing and clearing her son.
A young man's journey into adulthood, love, and ambition, inspired by a serial by George Randolph Chester exploring themes of love, ambition, and self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the Roaring Twenties.
Having misused funds held in his trust by investing them with his friend, Henry Lowe, Robert Reardon appeals to his future son-in-law, James Calvin, a candidate for the position of district attorney, for help. When Calvin threatens to indict Lowe for fraud if he is elected, Reardon's anger becomes so great that the engagement between Calvin and Reardon's daughter Helen is broken, resulting in Reardon's suicide. After Lowe comes into possession of a check forged by Helen's brother Jack, he uses the document to force a marriage with Helen. Treated brutally by her husband, Helen seeks Calvin's aid, but Lowe frames Calvin, now the district attorney, in a compromising situation with his ex-fiancée. Calvin is about to resign when Helen traps her husband with some marked money, causing his suicide through disgrace. Thus freed, Helen and Calvin find happiness together.
Cordelia Marlowe comes from a society family that has lost its fortune. She falls into the clutches of D.K. Franklin, a crooked lawyer who specializes in blackmail, and finds herself involved in Franklin's scheme to extort money from a family friend. She sets out to protect her friend's money and expose Franklin for the thief he is.
Myrtle Downing, an African-American woman, is coerced into marrying a corrupt would-be politician named Gyp Lassiter, even though she is really in love with Stephen Cameron, a young lawyer. When she discovers that her husband has conspired to support segregationist policies in exchange for support by white political power brokers, she objects to his crooked dealings and gets herself imprisoned in a secret dungeon where her husband had murdered his previous wives. Presumed to be a lost film.
On the trail of counterfeiters Detective Craig is on their trail. Suspicion falls on James Dalton who passes bad money through unsuspecting "fences." Dalton plants bad bills on young Bob Brierly and when it is detected Dalton, as usual, escapes while the innocent Bob is caught and convicted. Upon his release Bob meets Mae Edwards who gets him a job in her bank. When Dalton comes to the bank to case it for a robbery he runs into Bob and tries to recruit him as an accomplice. Bob, who has married Mae, refuses. Dalton causes him to lose his position and because of Dalton’s persistent efforts forces Bob to join the crook. Craig, shadowing Dalton, knows Bob is taking part against his will. Craig foils the robbery and after a motorboat chase Dalton is captured and exonerates Bob.
Tension fueled mystery follows a series of robberies to an exciting climax.
Penniless aristocrat Yvonne Dupré ekes out a living selling her paintings to a crooked dealer, Leon Naisson, who passes them off as other more famous artists. Leon confides to his unscrupulous model Romildo, that he is attracted to Yvonne. Romildo drugs his lover, fiery Apache dancer Juliette who closely resembles Yvonne, then tries to extort money from Leon to have his way with her. Leon discovers the duplicity but convinces the artist's sweetheart, Dick Gray, that she has been unfaithful. As police close in on Leon, he frames Yvonne by planting forged paintings in her studio. Following Yvonne's arrest, Juliette is informed by her foster sister that she was stolen by gypsies as a child and is actually Yvonne's twin sister. Juliette exposes Leon's operation to the police, reuniting Yvonne and Dick.
Jim and Flora work together to rob a diamond broker's office, successfully stealing several large, valuable diamonds. Making their getaway in a taxi Flora asks Jim for her agreed-upon share of the stolen diamonds. Jim refuses to give her the diamonds immediately, telling her it wouldn't be safe for her to have them at that time, and promises to divide the loot later. This causes tension and conflict between the two accomplices.
Richard Barr, who lives in the suburbs of New York, and John Colville, honest directors of a dishonestly managed corporation, are fighting to save their own investments and those of small individual shareholders from ruin. They are holding a very important meeting that will last well into the night.
Ranch foreman Kerry has boarded with Kitty Tynan and her mother for five years in western Canada, his past is a mystery to everyone. He is actually an English aristocrat who lost all his money gambling and left the country in search of work. Kerry and his friend Horan own an option on property which crooked lawyer Burlingame is trying to secure. Burlingame's cohort Logan murders Hogan, and is caught and arrested. In the trial, Burlingame forces Kerry to admit his past, and succeeds in preventing Kerry from receiving bank assistance. When Kerry is shot, Kitty opens a letter from Kerry's wife that he had been carrying for five years, and cables her. Kerry's wife arrives and informs him that his last bet in England had turned out to be a $20,000 winner. Kerry is able to use the money just in time to foil Burlingame and secure the property, thus winning prosperity and the affections of his wife.
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.
A man breaks into a flat, startling the occupant. They argue about the new girlfriend of the 'burglar', who's come to get her stuff. Then a third man bursts out of the cupboard...
Suspected of smuggling, Eileen Caverly boards the Connecticut Limited where she befriends Helen Raymond who is traveling with her new husband Bob Guerton. Helen confides they had recently married impulsively, the service performed by a justice of the peace. Shortly after their talk the train is wrecked, Helen is killed and Bob injured. Seizing the opportunity Eileen poses as Bob's wife to avoid capture. Bob’s mother visits him, learning that they were married by a Justice of the Peace, insists they be married by a minister. Bob becomes successful with Eileen’s support, and they have a son. All is well until Cromwel Crow, who knows of Eileen's past, is released from jail. Demanding $5000 for his silence they struggle, Bob enters and in the ensuing fight, Crow is killed. Eileen's secret dies with her adversary, freeing her to continue her life.
Gertie Jones, known among other thieves as "The Chatterbox" because she talks to herself while she works, becomes a rich woman's French maid after learning about her employer's $40,000 diamond necklace. To cover up the scratches left by her tools after she unsuccessfully tries to open the safe containing the necklace, Gertie telephones the police to report an attempted burglary. Jimmy Hartigan, a famous thief, arrives and after he and Gertie fall in love at first sight, he is arrested.
Millionaire Joshua Barker insists that his daughter, Faith, must marry Phil Langhorne, a man that neither likes, and Faith is in love with and eager to marry her childhood sweetheart, John Temple.