A young girl living a secluded and unsophisticated life is suddenly thrust into a great wealth and a frightening social whirl.
Although Susan Branch is herself without finances, she has many wealthy friends who supply her with clothes and gay times. She is in love with struggling author Nick Lansing, who also attracts the interests of Susan's chief patron, Ursula Gillow, and is persuaded by Ellie Vanderlyn to marry him for at least a year's happiness. Their marriage falls apart when their wedding gifts are spent; they become involved with the Vanderlyns' domestic affairs; and Ursula decides she wants Nick for herself. However, the lawyer handling the Lansings' divorce proceedings brings them back together, and Nick sells his novel. A lost film.
As a derelict paints the face of a girl on a barroom floor, the plot is developed in a series of flashbacks: Robert Stevens, an artist engaged to marry Marion, a society girl, becomes charmed with a fisherman's daughter who poses for him. The society girl's brother brings dishonor upon the fisherman's daughter, and when she commits suicide the artist shields the brother. Stevens is blamed by his fiancée, who terminates their engagement. The artist becomes a derelict and is wrongfully imprisoned. Eventually Stevens is exonerated and reunited with Marion.
Snobbish attorney Charles 'Beauty' Steele loses his wife due to his drinking and his airs at the same time that his brother-in-law absconds with funds belonging to one of Steele's clients. In search of the thief, Steele is attacked and left for dead. He is rescued by a kindly couple, but suffers from amnesia. He starts life afresh and is happy, until the return of his memory sends him back to resolve his old involvements.
Snobbish attorney Charles 'Beauty' Steele loses his wife due to his drinking and his airs at the same time that his brother-in-law absconds with funds belonging to one of Steele's clients. In search of the thief, Steele is attacked and left for dead. He is rescued by a kindly couple, but suffers from amnesia.
A young woman who disguises herself as a man to go gold prospecting after her father and brother forbid her from joining them.
Gibbs is a laborer at the docks who, through his hard work and good judgment, becomes a millionaire on Wall Street. He becomes acquainted with the Van Dusens, who have lost their fortune. Mrs. Van Dusen pushes her daughter Marie into a loveless marriage with Gibbs so that the family can retain its social standing. Gibbs realizes, however, that his money cannot buy his wife's affection.
The Legion's mascot, Cigarette falls for an Englishman, Bertie Cecil (Herbert Heyes), and when he is sentenced to a firing squad, she heroically takes the bullet herself.
When composer Anselm Kardos leaves his alcoholic wife, he gives his daughter Lily an unfinished love ode entitled "The Song of Songs" and warns her to keep her artistic temperament in check.
Virginia Jameson, a girl of lovely disposition, is wooed by a man much older than herself whom she very much dislikes, but who stands very high in the favor of her parents. She might have married another man had not fate decreed otherwise. She meets and accidentally escapes the man she could have loved and would have married; she stooped to tie her shoe-strings, diverting her attention from him. Had their eyes met, both their lives would have been different. Leroy Farley, the man favored by her parents, prevails and she marries him. Her life is unhappy, notwithstanding his great riches and social prominence.
Two young collegians, Anthony Markham, an enigmatic person, and Alan Strange, whose temperament is the direct antithesis of his friend, compete for the honors of swimming. Both men are aspirants for the hand of Rosalie Latimer, the daughter of the banker, Latimer, to whom Alan is the confidential secretary.
Mrs. Force, a social parasite, with a beautiful daughter, is so closely pressed by her creditors, that she uses her beautiful child as an asset, urging her to accept the offer of the hand of an aged banker, Black, old enough to be her grandfather.
His beloved wife having died, Mark Boland sells his furniture and seeks to forget his sorrow in dissipation. He comes in contact with David Yarnall, a man who has been discharged from the employ of Jim Driscoll, a prosperous Quaker, for his dissolute habits. Yarnall persuades Boland to help him rob the home of Driscoll.
After her father's death, socialite Elaine Fleetwood promises to marry a man she does not love. However, she leaves him at the altar during a wedding ceremony, cuts her hair and decides to disguise herself as a boy and go prospecting in northwest Tasmania. She meets a handsome miner who figures out she is a woman, saves her from a villain and marries her.
"Thirty per cent dividend! Is your money supporting you? If not, call and see us. Rising Sun Copper Company." This is the bait that the vultures throw out to catch the "doves," widows and orphans.
Gangster boss Chuck Collins, despite his ruthlessness, is a basically decent fellow. Collins is plagued by a rival gang, led by deceptively boyish Curly, who has been stealing jewelry from the rich and famous. Collins tricks the other crooks into turning the gems over to him, intending to use them for his own profit. But sweet heroine Sunshine eventually persuades Collins and his cohorts to turn honest. Considered a lost film.
A train operator's obsession with being on time leads to tragedy for his family.
Cupid Angling is a 1918 silent film starring Ruth Roland and Albert Morrison, with walk-on appearances by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. It was the only feature film photographed using the Douglass Natural Color process.
Silent film directed by Irvin Willat
A young man is sentenced to prison for a term of eight years, yet he's allowed out if he promises not to get married for those eight years, lest he be forced to complete his sentence behind bars. He goes to live on an old ship in the harbor with an old sea captain. One day a homeless girl is fished out of the water and brought to live on the boat, soon marrying the young man. All is well until his parole officer finds out.