The $5,000,000 Counterfeiting Plot

A gang of Tripolitan pirates swooped down and kidnapped 13 wealthy brides, whom they held for ransom.

Gerry Sands dreams of being an editor but is forced by his employer, locksmith Nick Barket, to crack safes. During a robbery he experiences an epiphany and stops. His sweetheart Polly Ann Kerry is thrilled and gets him work at the hotel where she works, but Red Devlin, the brains behind the burglaries, frames Gerry for theft. In hopes that Gerry will resume the thefts Devlin bails him out, but Gerry leaves town for work on a Western newspaper. Afterwards Polly exposes the crooks, she falls ill. Risking arrest Gerry returns and goes to the police station seeking help locating her. The police captain gives him twenty-four hours’ probation. Upon finding Polly the police captain vouches for Gerry's integrity, and they marry.

After being disinherited by their wealthy father for their wild and irresponsible ways, two brothers embark on vastly different paths. One turns to crime and the other follows the straight and narrow falling in love along the way. When their paths cross again both find their lives in danger and only one will emerge safely.

U. S. Senator Frank Deering has spent his life trying to alleviate the misery of child labor. Judge Vernon, his closest friend, aids him in this struggle. Unexpected circumstances force Judge Vernon to borrow money from Henry McCarthy, one of the factory owners most responsible for the harsh and inhumane working conditions. Judge Vernon is unable to pay off the loan, and is reduced to accepting a bride from McCarthy. Later, the Judge is stricken with a heart-condition but, on his dying bed, he confesses the shameful act he committed to Deering. To keep his friend's name unsullied, Deering makes a deal with McCarthy and votes against the child-labor-act he sponsored. His colleagues and the world, unaware of his sacrifice, mock and jeer him.

Robert Dunning commits suicide after being financially ruined by a cunning Wall Street stockbroker. Marcia Dunning vows revenge for her husband's death and becomes a roulette operator at a gambling house frequented by the stockbroker's son. She uses a magnetized ring on her finger to trick the son, who then steals from his father and causes the man's financial ruin.

This is not a romance but the biography of the man who now leads our vast forces in France. It shows him from boyhood to his present high command, and the story of his life tells why Pershing was selected to lead the American forces overseas and how he has his own personal account to settle with the ruthless Hun.

Dishonored by playboy John Radon, simple country girl Stella Dean flees to the city to hide her shame. Leading a disreputable life she eventually obtains great wealth as a courtesan known as the Black Nightingale. One day she meets Milton Taylor, an artist from her hometown who knew her when she was an innocent, and he asks her to pose as his model of the Madonna. Stella agrees and feels cleansed by the experience, however when Milton discovers Stella's reputation he begins to drink and leaves her, his illusions shattered. Repentant, Stella converts her mansion into a refuge for foundlings and returns to her hometown of Pleasantville reconciling with Milton.

Loutish Teddy Brant feeling trapped by his marriage and family commitments to the sweet Rose and their infant daughter Helen fakes his suicide and embarks on a dissolute life. Thinking herself free Rose remarries, and time passes contently. Years later, Teddy, now a hopeless derelict, wanders the country straying one night into the waiting room of a train station. He sees a young girl being accosted by an elderly gentleman who tries to entice her home. Teddy thinks nothing of the incident until he finds a purse lying on the seat and learns that the girl is his daughter Helen. Teddy hastens after them and in the ensuing fight, strangles Helen's assailant and then flees. Helen is arrested for the murder but is acquitted when Teddy staggers into the police station and confesses to the crime.

Conchita Cordova sings in the cathedral choir in her village of San Miguelito near the Rio Grande. Millionaire oil man John Rannie, whose oil fields have displaced the peasants, desires Conchita, and when he learns that her fiance, Juan Mendoza, has been employed by Adolf Wylie, a German spy, Rannie threatens to expose Juan unless Conchita gives herself to him.

Loring, an author, in getting material for a book, goes to a gambling den. He sees Wilbur, who acts strangely. He follows him and when Wilbur is killed, Peter Charles, father of Beatrice Charles, is accused of the murder. The gambler gives him a fictitious story about a murderous gang when Loring attempts to solve the murder mystery. Several attempts are made on his life by the gang but fail. The gambler proves to be Beatrice’s villainous fiancee, and when he confesses the murder Loring wins the young woman.

Wealthy New York contractor Wilton Demarest falls victim to the wiles of beautiful adventuress Mazora. Soon, he becomes addicted to drugs, neglects his wife and child, and his business is on the verge of ruin. By chance he meets his double, western mining engineer Martin Stanley. Demarest, half mad due to his drug addiction, conceives the fantastic idea of having Stanley take his place in the world enabling him to indulge in his degraded desires. Stanely, penniless and alone in the world accepts the proposition despite his reservations. Demarest drops into oblivion and Stanley picks up the scattered threads of his life, both in business and at home. The "at home" part is what causes complications.

Orphaned Gertrude "Gertie" Flint is rescued by lamplighter, Trueman Flint, who raises her with faith and virtue until she grows into a moral woman and finds love with a childhood friend, overcoming hardships like her blind mother's separation from her and near-fatal fire incidents, ultimately leading to happy reunions and an engagement.

When Bob Stratton returns from war in France, he soon discovers his ranch in the hands of a pretty girl, Mary Thorne, who explains that upon her father's death she became the sole owner. Thorne had been the executor of Stratton's will, and thinking that Bob had been killed, he had appropriated the place for himself.

Rich wastrel Baron Chevrial fritters his days and nights away pursuing a series of young lovelies and playing with their affections. He is smitten with the charms of Rosa, dancer of the Opera Comique, but marries the prominent Therese Beauchamp while still remaining involved with Rosa. Eventually a new woman enters his life and for a time he is oblivious to everything else until Rosa reenters his sphere.

Former Viennese orchestra leader Anton von Barwig has been searching for his daughter, taken by his ex-wife, for many years. The search has reduced him to penury since a crooked detective swindled him. One day he meets a young society girl, Helene Stanton, seeking music lessons for her fiancé, Beverly Cruger, and recognizes her as his child. Barwig finally confronts her foster father, who had run away with his wife in Vienna, who pleads with him to stay silent for his daughter’s future. He acquiesces but Helene discovers the relationship and brushes social considerations aside to be reunited with him.

A group of Canadian Royal Mounted Police officers arrive home after serving overseas with the Allied Army. After enjoying a birthday banquet for the aged Major Manners amid much singing and revelry, Inspector Turner reveals suspicions about a new recruit, John Smith, whom he knows to be using a pseudonym and whose war record contains something potentially damaging.

A man's life is ruined by the treachery of someone he once thought was a close friend. Enraged, he determines to track the man down and get his revenge. He follows the culprit over two continents and across the ocean, and when the ship sinks he finds himself washed up on a desert island with his nemesis and a beautiful young woman.

Serama, the consort of Lucifer, is driven from Paradise by the Archangel Michael, who commands Conscience to enter human souls to judge and punish them. In the main story, society girl Ruth Somers, a reincarnation of Serama, prepares to marry Cecil Brooke, the wealthiest man of her set. Her guardian, Dr. Norton, an incarnation of Lucifer, constantly accompanies her. Ruth is summoned to the Court of Conscience, where the witnesses, Lust, Avarice, Hate, Revenge and Vanity, testify about Ruth's history of seducing and abandoning men. This behavior resulted in the suicide of Madge, the lover of Ned Langley, whom Ruth enthralled and promised to marry, and also the deaths of two rivals for her love. Ruth is ordered back to earth to learn her sentence. When Ned interrupts the wedding, Ruth scorns him and he shoots himself. After Brooke leaves her, the Court dooms Ruth to live with the torment of remembrance. Ruth sends Norton away, and then kneels and repents.

Rancher Buck Jones goes undercover as a ranch hand on his own spread

Joyous Johnson is expelled from college and finds work as a publicity agent for the Coronado Hotel. At the hotel, he falls for Marjorie Milbank, a businesswoman visiting to discuss the sale of her Texas cattle ranch with Joyous's father. Unknown to Joyous, his father desperately needs Marjorie's ranch to save his failing packing house, but she refuses to sell. Joyous must navigate his new job and his father's business crisis while trying to win Marjorie's heart.