Tessa Doyle, an innocent country girl who has come to New York and joined a vaudeville sister act, becomes embroiled in a scheme to earn money at her partner Trixie Dennis' insistence.
When Rosamond, a convent girl, discovers that her mother is Baby Brabant, a notorious queen of Petworth's gambling house, her ideals are shattered and she denounces her mother's life.
Hal Whitney, an irresponsible young millionaire, befriends Timothy Payne, a wise old college professor whose life had been ruined by alcohol. After "adopting" Timothy as his father, Hal introduces him to his sweetheart, Helen Maynard. The outraged Helen breaks their engagement, certain that Timothy will be a bad influence on her hard-drinking fiancé. However, both men assist in each other's reformation, and Hal is soon reunited with Helen, while Timothy marries Hal's mother, Elizabeth, whom he had loved in his youth.
Most mothers are more or less wrong about their children. Mrs. Reed loved her youngest son, Edward, who was a clever rascal, so blindly that her eldest son, Jim, a generous but somewhat stupid boy, did not get his due dose of maternal affection. Jim was always unlucky, while Edward was never short of good clothes and plenty of money to make his pockets ring.
A recently widowed and destitute young mother (Jane Novak) appeals to her wealthy and heartless father-in-law (Robert Edeson) for financial aid. Instead, he convinces her to hand over her new baby to his care so that the child will be brought up with "everything money can buy." Unbeknownst to the grandfather, we learn that there are twin sons and our heroine keeps one baby to raise herself. The narrative jumps ahead to the boy's twenty-first birthday and we see what's become of them. Not surprisingly, the wealthy son has grown up spoiled and greedy while the poor one works hard and loves his mother.
Gil Lamb gets tangled up in a series of fast-paced, foolish misunderstandings and physical gags as he tries to navigate everyday tasks and romantic aspirations with Wanda McKay's character, only for his hyper-clumsy nature to turn simple situations into complete, chaotic disaster.
When Alice Winton's brother embezzles funds belonging to his employer, Benjamin Graves, a promoter of worthless mining stock, she saves him from arrest by signing over to Graves a hefty promissory note. Later Graves deliberately wrecks the mining company in which Alice's invalid father has invested his money, and the shock from the resulting bankruptcy, kills him. Alice marries Robert Burton, a noted criminologist who believes in the theory, "once a thief, always a thief," and the couple takes up temporary residence with District Attorney Jeffrey Miller. In Miller's safe are incriminating documents concerning Graves's illegal activities, and Graves, knowing of their existence, blackmails Alice into stealing them by showing her some compromising love letters to which he has forged her name.
Uncle Sam is mistaken for Marion's uncle Sam.
Lucy Fay leaves her husband, Richard, a fireman, for a suave politician, Perry Dunn. Richard compensates for the loss by adopting Drina, a baby girl whose mother perished in a fire. Drina develops into a beautiful young lady and becomes a model at a modiste shop owned by Dunn and managed by Lucy. Dunn is attracted to Drina and plots to get her alone by giving her a drugged drink. An untimely fire interferes with his plans, leaving Drina drugged and trapped by flames in Dunn's room, where she is sleeping.
A woman with a taste for expensive clothing has four nightmares. An impoverished disabled girl sells her hair, a trapper finds he has an unfaithful wife, the wife of a dying weaver finds she cannot work the loom, and a model harassed by her boss is driven to murder.
A novelist has to choose between his wealthy patron and a penniless romantic.
A mother punishes her son for eating a plate of cream puffs, unaware that the daughter really did it. As the daughter watches the punishment, she feels guilty, and confesses her misdeed.
A young English nobleman is sent to Switzerland by his parents, where he meets a mysterious older woman with whom he has a torrid three-week romance.
Young New York playboy Stephen Winthrop inherits the entire estate of his wealthy Canadian uncle but pays scant attention to it, preferring the "party" life in New York. He is unaware that the family attorney, Frank Garson, has forbidden hunting on the Winthrop lands in Canada, cutting off the livelihoods of the local villagers. Mary Cartier, goddaughter of the village priest, travels to New York to try to get Stephen to change the policy. He returns with her to Canada, sees what's going on, and lifts the ban, then decides to stay in Canada. Mary returns to New York to try to help Garson's abandoned and ill wife and child, but the wife dies, and Mary brings back the small child to Canada. The villagers, mistaking the child for Mary's, are outraged at this "scarlet woman" flaunting her illegitimate child and attempt to drive her out. Complications ensue.
A press agent helps a honky tonk spot draw a new elite patronage but a troublemaker arrives on the scene as well and disrupts the romance between the male and female stars.
Ranch hand Tommy Dawes has a special bond with little Rosemary, the crippled daughter of his boss Bill Nyall. When Tommy accidentally breaks Rosemary's favorite doll one day, he borrows a $20 gold piece from the foreman's mattress to go to town and buy a new doll. However, on the way there he is ambushed and robbed by an escaped convict
Shakespeare Clancy is a jailbird who walks out with a crowd of visitors about the time "Skeeter" Burns, the prison printer, is discharged. Learning that a legacy awaits them in Dodson, the pair depart for the small Western town. Discovering that the bequest consists of a failing county newspaper and a plot of barren land, they hatch a plan to fleece the townspeople by selling shares in a bogus oil well. Problems arise when Clancy falls in love with society editor Alice Whitney. Clancy is conflicted but then they do strike oil! Concluding that his destiny is to be an honest man, Clancy returns to jail to finish serving his term. Slipping into the crowd of visitors, he dons his prison clothes and resumes work as though nothing had happened.
One time “plain Jane” Daphne Carrol returns from Paris a "polished" flapper. She sets her cap for her sister's brother-in-law, Custis Lee even though he is indifferent to her. When Custis’s brother, Jack, managing editor of the local newspaper prints a story of Daphne's return her picture accidentally appears over a news item about the escape of Sally Long from an insane asylum. Daphne gains entrance to Custis' house and poses as Sally, claiming him to be her husband. Fearful for his life, he humors her until he can engage a nurse to watch her. Daphne enjoys the joke until she discovers that her nurse is actually Sally--and Sally's husband tries to rob the Custis home. In the merry mix-up Daphne faints in Custis' arms and is forced to declare that she is his wife; after the complications are resolved, they decide to make the arrangement legal.
Mendoza, who had an affair with the star of the original production of La Vie parisienne in 1900, returns in 1935 with his son and granddaughter. His granddaughter is engaged to a young Frenchman, but Mendoza's strait-laced and puritanical son initially forbids the marriage. The core conflict involves Mendoza and his old Parisian friends conspiring to change the son's mind and convince him to embrace the titular "Parisian life".
The Jones Family heads to Gay Paree in celebration of the 25th wedding anniversary of Pa and Ma Jones. It doesn't take long for the Joneses to be victimized by clever Parisian con artists.