A Man's World

New York confidence man "Silk" Wilkins ingratiates himself with millionaire Lawrence Gray, knowing Gray’s wife and daughter Zelda were lost in a flood eighteen years earlier. After promising to find Gray's daughter, Silk returns to his boardinghouse, where he finds Alice Sheldon, broke and about to commit suicide. Silk convinces Alice to pose as Zelda Gray and then notifies Lawrence via a note placed in an almond shell that he has found the lost daughter. Lawrence treats Alice so kindly that when Silk demands payment from her on Christmas morning, she refuses. Lawrence, who has overheard the conversation, enters and laughingly reveals that he had known of the frame-up all along. Grateful to Silk for finding him a wife, Lawrence writes the confidence man a large check.

John Kendall was brought up in a wealthy family, but when his father loses the family fortune and then dies, John is left penniless. He joins the army and rises to the rank of sergeant. He soon meets and falls in love with Edith Ferris, the daughter of Col. Dickinson. When he talks to her at a party, Lt. Burkett upbraids him for fraternizing with an officer's family. Edith's mother, not wanting her daughter getting involved with a lowly enlisted man, conspires with Lt. Burkett to discredit John.

Canadian schoolteacher Julie Leneau becomes the bride of Geoffrey Arnold but is soon confronted by Claire who convinces her that she is Arnold's lawful wife. Fleeing into a blizzard Julie nearly perishes but is found by government official Hubert Randolph. They become snowbound and she later accepts his proposal to give her baby an honorable name. Moving to Jamaica Hubert rises in government and the couple are happy. However, when Geoffrey visits Julie realizes she still loves him and learning he has not been unfaithful Randolph surrenders his wife and her child to Geoffrey.

Anson Campbell returns from the seminary to a small village on the New England coast. When the puritanical villagers persecute Bess Morgan, a "fallen" woman, he sticks up for her, telling them that their form of "Christianity" isn't Christian at all. This has no effect on the bigoted villagers and they turn their anger on him. Complications ensue.

Larry Winthrop, the pampered son of an aristocratic Boston family, is loved by his wife, Eleanor, but she wants him to prove himself to her as a man.

When Rachel Stetherill's daughter marries a man of whom she disapproves, Rachel disowns her. Five years later her daughter, now widowed, is killed. Her young son comes under the influence of a professional safecracker and is soon on his way to becoming a hardened criminal. Twenty yeas later the Stetherill family lawyer learns that the infamous thief known as Ladyfingers bears a striking resemblance to Rachel's husband--and has fallen in love with Enid, Mrs. Stetherill's young ward. Complications ensue.

Young mechanical engineer John Ashton is trying to complete the plans for a new submarine. Under pressure to meet a deadline he has been leaning on whiskey to handle the stress which his friend Robert Gray warns him against, but to no avail. His fiancée, Grace, telephones wanting him to take a break and attend a dinner party with her. Against his better judgement and still drinking he accepts but nods off while getting ready. What follows are booze infused visions of loss and degradation so horrifying that upon awaking he swears off "the devil at his elbow”!

When spiritualist Madame Mysteria is killed in a train wreck, her three associates decide to replace her instead of declaring her dead. One of them, the Fox, calls on Jean Oliver, who he knew from prison. Jean was serving time after being framed by her former employer, Mrs. Ramsey, for a theft just to keep her and her son, Donald Ramsey, from marrying. Jean agrees to the crooks' scheme providing that they help her kidnap the baby that belongs to Donald and the woman that his mother had him marry.

At her mother’s behest Kate Leigh marries wealthy Basil Kildare, owner of a Southern plantation called Storm. When Basil’s servant and mistress Mahaly protests bitterly he takes their shared son away from her. Kate discovers her new husband is a coarse and brutal alcoholic and turns for friendship to Dr. Jacques Benoix and his mother. When Basil becomes aware of their relationship, he finds the doctor and they have a brutal fight. Later Basil is found dead and Jacques is sentenced to life in prison. On her deathbed, Mahaly confesses that she killed Basil, leaving Kate and Jacques to begin a new life together.

After his divorce Robert Collingwood loses his fortune in Wall Street and becomes mentally unstable. He then attempts to harm his daughter, Gail, but dies in a fall. Fifteen years later, Gail, now a reporter, becomes involved with a man named Thorne, who is also known as Edward North. Thorne is later revealed to be the man who had an affair with Collingwood's wife.

Lucille Cameron, the spirited daughter of a Kentucky colonel, discovers that her father is nearly bankrupt as a result of his dealings with New York horseman and stock promoter Jim De Luce....

Nita, a former singer, loses her voice and husband. To support her child, she becomes a cafe dancer. When her husband dies, she leaves her child at a mission. Nita regains her voice, becomes an opera star and reunites with her child.

Shrewd crook Boston Blackie is determined to go straight. At a celebration held on the eve of his marriage to Mary Dawson, Fred the Count plants a stolen jewel and Blackie is arrested and sentenced to twenty years in jail. Fred the Count tries to win Blackie's fiancée, but the honorable Mary rejects him. Blackie's only hope for escape is from the hospital, so he manages to get into a weakened state. He escapes from the hospital, but is trailed by the warden. Blackie refuses to shoot the defenseless man, and the warden recognizes Blackie as an honorable person and allows him to escape. Blackie frames the Count, and leaves for Honolulu with Mary

Somewhere in France, German troops occupy the chateau of Marquis X. The commanding officer see the aged Marquis attempt to signal his daughter Louise, and seizing a paper writes an order demanding her presence. On the paper is a message in code from the Marquis to ring the bell as a signal to the French troops. Louise kills one of the German officers and rings the bell, though she knows it will mean death for her father and herself. The picture fades into a Liberty Bell ringing out "Buy, buy, buy, Bonds."

When the United States enters World War I, the widowed Helen worries that she will lose her only son David, who has just turned 21. Although David patriotically urges the employees at his factory to enlist, he reluctantly gives in to his mother's pleas to remain at home with her. When David is drafted, his panic-stricken mother alters the date on his birth certificate, although the later birth date implies that he is illegitimate. Disgusted, David enlists under an assumed name, thus shaming Helen, who confesses her dishonesty to the townspeople. Her son, now in uniform, then forgives her.

A husband and wife are arguing about how to spend their money, when 'Democracy' appears and convinces them to invest in Liberty Bonds.

Letty Shell, a clerk in a London brokerage office, is discouraged by her lack of fine clothes and social position. She becomes infatuated with Nevill Letchmere, a debonair idler from a good family, and believes that he wants to marry her, but after her boss, Bernard Mandeville, who has risen to power and wealth, and who wants to marry Letty, warns Letchmere to keep away from her, Letchmere confesses that he is married. Disappointed, Letty accepts Mandeville's proposal, but when she sees Mandeville's boorishness in a restaurant, she returns to Letchmere. Just as she is about to become his mistress, Letchmere receives word that his married sister has eloped with a lover. When he curses his sister for acting like a "shop girl," Letty realizes that he views her and her class without respect. She leaves and accepts the love of her faithful friend Richard Perry, a poor photographer, whose rich uncle is going to help him in business

Inspired by a Robert W. Service poem, the story concerns a Parisian demimonde named Lucille who becomes the model of an aspiring artist named Robert. Falling in love with Robert, Lucille endeavors to spare him disappointment by secretly buying his "unsaleable" paintings. Luck of luck, one of his portraits of Lucille, "My Madonna," wins first prize in an art contest.

Persis Cabot, the daughter of a multi-millionaire meets young officer Harvey Forbes and falls in love but cannot marry him because of her father’s financial reverses. She enters a marriage of convenience, but her husband is a philander who makes her miserable. Despite his faithlessness he is possessive of Persis and driven by jealousy he attempts to kill her, but Harvey rescues her, and they are united at last.

Mistakenly believing that she has inherited a large estate from her father, Olivia Sherwood spends money wantonly. In reality, her funds are supplied by unscrupulous attorney Arnold West, whose ulterior motive is to possess her. When she falls in love with wealthy Richard Burbank, West becomes enraged. At a party, West confronts Olivia with the truth and threatens to expose her unless she marries him. Olivia frantically attempts to escape his advances and as West pursues her, he falls down the stairs and breaks his neck. Burbank overhears the entire confrontation and forgives Olivia, and they marry.