About Dick Heldar, an aspiring artist. Although he is devoted to his childhood sweetheart, Maisie Wells, his ambition drives him to faraway places. He meets Torpenhow, a war correspondent, at Port Said, and accompanies him into battle.
James MacDonald, familiarly known as "Slim Jim," who prefers to make a livelihood by stealth rather than by honest endeavor, leaves his wife and young son one evening, and with the assistance of a "pal" succeeds in fleecing a stranger at "Three Card Monte" for a considerable sum.
As an infant, Ruth Drake was stolen from her father by her vengeful mother, and then abandoned. She was adopted and raised by a pawnbroker, and as a young woman joins the Salvation Army in order to help the kinds of people she has seen--and was--growing up. When war breaks out in Europe, she volunteers to go to France
Billy Milford, Harvard graduate, goes west to seek his fortune. In Addertown he secures a position as stationmaster of the L. & R. Railroad, but is forced out because of his drinking habits. He accidentally meets Gunhild, an emigrant Norwegian girl, as she arrives in Addertown to take up her home with Jan Hagsberg, the town's saloonkeeper. Seeking revenge on the railroad, Milford joins Jim Dorsey in a scheme to hold up the road's paymaster on his way to pay the employees of the company's mine.
As baby-faced chorine "Pat" O'Brien, the star protects her virtue against various and sundry stage-door Johnnies and sugar daddies. Implicated in a crime, Pat is pursued by detective Danny Mallory, who of course eventually falls in love with her and seeks to prove her innocence.
Peggy Ainslee, the daughter of a wealthy broker, tires of the empty life of society, and determines on a mission of charity and uplift in the poor quarters of New York City
When the body of Col. S.F. Hargraves was found in a room in the rear of Cradelbaughs, a gambling house, with a bullet in his heart, the police found "Big Jim" Pemmican, the manager of the place, coolly pacing the floor when they arrived.
Twins Nelson and J. Barrington Drake return home for the celebration of their parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Barrington is a wealthy oilman, but Nelson is a pastor in a small rural church, who is struggling to increase his ever-shrinking flock, Barrington tells him that his problem could be solved with the right type of salesmanship, and proceeds to map out a plan to do just that. However, a case of mistaken identity--and a scheme by two of the church's deacons to take over all of the church property--throws a wrench into his plans.
Eddie Haskins, a wisecracking young man, teams up with two ham-acrobats known as 'Bugs & Sunny', and ,when they are all kicked out of a vaudeville theater in California, they enlist in the U. S. Cavalry. Eddie falls in love with Dorothy Clark, the daughter of a sergeant and, following a moonlight tryst, they are discovered by Sergeant Hank Darby who himself is in love with Dorothy. They have a fist-fight in which Eddie comes out second best. When Darby is reprimanded for fighting with an enlisted man, the troopers incorrectly think that Eddie squealed on him, and they punish him with a conspiracy of silence. Dorothy also rejects him. Eddie has a problem. Maybe a fire will break out in the stables and he can rescue Sergeant Darby.
Felix O'Day lives to fulfill but one desire: to impose revenge on Austin Bennett, the man who stole his wife Barbara and caused his father's death.
Mary Ainslie has been waiting 30 years for her fiancé, a sea captain, to return. She has kept a light burning in her window to guide him home. His son Carl, by another woman, arrives on vacation in the New England village where Mary lives. Mary is overcome by the resemblance between the young man and his father. The young man falls in love with Ruth, Mary's young comrade. On her deathbed, Mary wishes Carl and Ruth the romantic life that she did not live.
Giovanni Pallazzi, a former member of the Black Hand, an Italian criminal organization, comes to America with his blind daughter Lucia and prospers. Hearing of his success, his former associates demand that he aid in their support
The brute is a gambler,boxing manager and underworld boss who mistreats a young woman, who is forced into marriage with him for money after her original fiance is thought dead. When that man returns, he attempts to rescue her.
Rena is a young woman of mixed race. Although she is romantically pursued by an upwardly mobile African American named Frank, Rena does not decide in his favor. Her appearance allows her to pass for white, as she is of majority European ancestry, although she has grown up in the black community. She meets and falls in love with George Tryon, a young white aristocrat. But as their relationship deepens, Rena believes she has to acknowledge her African ancestry. Considered a lost film.
Therese Roger, daughter of a West Indian planter, whose parents are murdered while she is a baby, becomes the adopted daughter of her aunt, Madame Roger, keeper of a haberdashery shop in one of the smaller villages in southern France. She grows up with Camille, Madame Roger's son, a sickly, sexless creature, whom she ultimately marries in deference to her aunt's wishes.
After divorcing her husband Kent, actress Anne Wetherall returns to the stage. Upon receiving a plea for help from childhood chum Nell Jerrold begging Anne to save Nell's daughter Betty from marrying Kent, the ex-Mrs. Wetherall decides to journey to the Jerrold's home in the town of Wheaton to investigate.
Aurelie, an orphan, escapes from a New Orleans convent and is adopted by Mississippi riverboat captain Lindstrom. So that she can have a more settled life, he sends her to live with his brother, John Lindstrom, a squatter in a small river valley town. There she develops into a beautiful woman and wins a newspaper's beauty contest, attracting an offer from a theatrical producer, which she accepts. She rapidly achieves success, but when she returns to town, she is spurned.
Penny arrives in the West by aeroplane. She is considered a suspicious character and thrown into jail. Kurt Walters, a ranch foreman and deputy sheriff, discovers that she is the same girl that his friend, Jo Gary, met in Chicago. Gary fell in love with her, but she confessed she was a thief. Since Penny claims she wants to reform, Walters releases her and sends her to live with Mrs. Kingdon. In spite of her teasing and taunts (or perhaps because of them), Walters finds himself falling in love with Penny.
A savvy city girl is hired to sugar an earnest farm boy into a business deal, but loses her heart. Spanish language version of the 1930 Nancy Carroll vehicle "The Devil's Holiday".
An understudy to a haughty star thinks she can have whatever she wants, including the show's leading comedian. But Claude has fallen for Gaby, and when the star finds out she threatens to walk off the show unless Gaby is discharged.