Fighting Fathers

Muriel Ashley is engaged to Ferdie Walton. Ferdie's father opposes the marriage; Muriel's parents favor it. The couple are married by a strange parson who wanders into the Ashley home, then after they leave for the honeymoon, Ferdie's father discovers that the clergyman is a crook.

Annice Paisch and her friend, Edna Lawson, almost despair of finding husbands in their dull hometown until Annice is struck with the idea of strewing tacks over the heavily traveled road that passes her house. New Yorker Vance Duncan promptly has an accident and is forced to recuperate in the home of Annice's father, the local doctor. Vance sends Annice to the telegraph station to wire his uncle, Mike Darcy, and there she meets detective Robert Cord, who informs her that Vance is a hopeless alcoholic. Uncle Mike arrives and Annice immediately falls in love with him, while Edna longs for Vance. Cord has Vance imprisoned in Dr. Dumbbell's Sanitarium for Drunkards, but Annice, masquerading as a patient, smuggles him out. They arrive home to find someone else's "Uncle Mike" chastising the detective for tracking down the wrong man, and the four young lovers finally are left in peace.

Norma Wood, a fed-up stenographer leaves her miserly fiancé, charges lavish gowns to her lecherous boss, and sets out to experience life. She is subsequently hired by a wealthy widow to seduce the woman's son away from his current girlfriend.

When Fortuna Donnelly gets a position as an usher at the Halcyon Theater, manager Eddie Lintner becomes romantically interested in her and is jealous that she prefers wealthy Englishman Owen Pauncefort.

A traveling theatrical troupe is stranded in a small town, and the leading ingenue, Polly, returns to her New York City hometown broke. She and her friend Bunny, desperate for a job, convince the Hawkers, a "nouveau riche" family from Kansas, that they are French and an experienced maid-and-butler team. Young Zeke Hawker is smitten with Polly, but Polly is attracted to their neighbor, a famous actor named MacGillicuddy. One night at a swanky party given by Mrs. Hawker, her jewels wind up stolen, and Polly is suspected of it. Complications ensue until Polly discovers who the real thieves are.

An English nobleman falls for and marries a beautiful young chorus girl. When he brings her home to the castle to meet his family, she is horrified to learn that she is niece, aunt, and/or cousin of all twenty-three of the staff of servants.

Connie McGill, a scullery maid at the Valentines, dreams of better things. One day, while serving, she sees her Prince Charming, Prentice Blue. Although Blue has nothing but his social standing, the nouveau riche Nathaniel Flint wishes his daughter Helen to marry him in order to gain family status. Flint gives a big party for Helen, which attracts the attention of the Du Geen band of crooks. In a scheme, they furnish the unsuspecting Connie with proper clothes, transforming her, and she ends up at the party dancing with Blue, who is enchanted with her. As she departs, she accidentally leaves her slipper with Blue. Unknown to her, she has aided the crooks in stealing jewels that night, and her slipper contains the key to Flint's safe.

Young violinist Zoe needs a concert dress. Her artist friend Clay makes her a gown from brocade. They use a touring singer's apartment to start a custom clothing business. When clients do not pay, collectors take the furniture, but an art critic saves them.

Emily Ray, who works in a department store, is taken in by her wealthy Aunt Carmen. Emily falls in love with Oliver Browning, but her aunt dismisses him as a nobody and a fortune hunter. Emily's wealthy married cousin, Rosamonde Vallant, always trying to keep up with the latest fads, gives a party in honor of Professor Syle, a distinguished radical who lectures her guests in "parlor Bolshevism," then takes them to Greenwich Village to meet his comrades.

Young bride Patricia Morley's flirtatious ways at a summer resort keep her husband Henry in a state of continual anxiety. At an old-fashioned barn dance, Patricia enacts the role of a chicken breaking out of an egg, and Henry's wrath explodes. After accusing her of being in love with another man, Henry returns to New York and files for divorce. Heartbroken, Patricia sends her friend Victoria French to tell Henry that she is dying.

The slapstick comedic mishaps and romantic pursuits of young characters navigating the ups and downs of youthful relationships.

Oil man Hugh Stanton embarks on one of his frequent business trips and leaves his wife, Patricia, in the care of Ted and Beatrice Mason. She also spends considerable time with Victor Raymier, the artist who is painting her portrait, unaware that he is a fraud who merely signs his name to the work of a real artist in his employ. One day, Victor persuades Patricia to accompany him to his country home. A storm forces them indoors and the fake artist proceeds to make unwanted advances on Patricia. The Masons come to her rescue, and following their return to the city, Patricia telephones her husband, asking him to come home. He informs her that the proceeds from his new oil well will enable him to be a full-time husband.

Society children Madalyn Harlan and Bob Elkins separate the day they are to be married. Madalyn marries her chauffeur, Jerry, while Bob falls in love with unsophisticated Ruth Cassell and, after careful consideration, marries her. Madalyn's marriage is unhappy, ending in a double suicide after Madalyn's parents disown her and Jerry's family proves to be lower class.

In an Alaskan mining camp, James Leyburn runs off with his gold prospecting partner Alexander Hendrie's wife Audrie and son Frank. Caught in a blizzard, James deserts them in order to save his own life. Audrie dies, and the little boy is taken to live with his mother's half sister Monica Norton. A few years later both James and Alexander are wealthy men. Alexander meets and falls in love with Monica, neither aware of the other's identity.

To avenge her sister's disgrace and death, Audrey Graham leaves her theatrical engagements in New York, and in one of the caravans of the early '70's seeks Hell's Paradise, a mining camp to which Steele, the betrayer, has gone. The caravan nearly perishes in Death Valley, and Audrey, disguised as a child, goes to seek relief from a band of outlaws. Her subterfuge is perceived and she is given her liberty only on condition that she bring Steele to the bandit, who married a woman Steele deceived. Audrey keeps her word but turns aside the happiness within her grasp for the sake of the other woman.

Winthrop Chase is running for mayor on the prohibition ticket in a town where his irresponsible son Wint is infamous for his drunken sprees. Wint is in love with Joan Caretall, whose father Amos is a big political boss. Amos fears Winthrop's power and decides to stalemate him by substituting Wint's name on the ballot for that of his father. The morning after the election, Wint awakens from a drunken stupor and finds himself the mayor.

Rosie Mendelsohn, the daughter of a kindly Jewish tailor in New York City's East Side ghetto, ends her romance with struggling author George Howard at the behest of her father, who prohibits her marriage to a gentile. George disappears from her life, and Rosie attempts to find him by becoming a private secretary to publisher Joseph Rayberg. She persuades Rayberg to host a contest in which authors submit endings to an unfinished manuscript she claims to have discovered. Rayberg, intent on seducing Rosie, agrees to publish the manuscript only after Rosie promises to have sex him when the contest is over.

"I hope people see me as an artist, not a blind artist." Tou suffered a severe eye injury in an accident at a young age. The journey into complete blindness was a torment to him. Yet, he doesn't want his struggle and vulnerability to be seen. It is not until he meets Iris that light seems to come into his sight again.

To support their siblings, Julien accepts "protection" from a wealthy man, inheriting his fortune but gaining an "infamous" reputation. A teacher, Max, falls for her, unaware that the real Julien died and he is actually in love with her innocent sister, Paula.

A kindly old woman named Mrs. Rand takes in wayward girl and petty crook Molly O'Hara, known as "Angel Face" to her gang. Mrs. Rand eventually gets Molly to see the error of her ways and she reforms. However, it her son John that has strayed from the straight and narrow and is part of a big money bunco. It's Molly's turn to help out the old woman, by reforming John as he falls in love with her.