Jack Breen and his wife, Lizzie, are professional crooks, who live in a fine house and set themselves up as belonging to the best. Breen gets his living by various means, including begging. He dresses in ragged clothes and picks up crusts in the street, which he pretends to eat, thereby exciting the sympathy of passers-by.
After a serious quarrel with his father concerning his debts, Wallace Dixon leaves the house in anger, declaring that he will live his life as beat pleases him. That night, Alfred Dixon, the father, hears a noise by the safe in his bedroom, where he is sleeping, and shoots at the intruder who escapes unharmed.
Fatima decides she needs to reduce her weight. Inspired by the example of famous actress and beauty icon Lillian Russell, she attempts to "roll it off" through various weight-loss methods.
In a bicycle race, Lee is continually stopping to help the girls, and when overtaken by the other riders, he leaps upon his trick bike and passes ahead of them.
During World War I, John Bowman, the captain of a tramp steamer, refuses to allow his wife and daughter Shirley to accompany him on a long voyage because he fears that the ship may be torpedoed. Before his departure, he entrusts his life insurance policy to shipping agent Sam Bullard, who, unknown to John, once courted Mrs. Bowman. Shirley, a clairvoyant, has a vision in which her father's ship is torpedoed, and the next day, Sam reports that the ship has been sunk and John killed.
George and Iggy, first generation Ukrainian American brothers live together in the same neighborhood where they grew up believing they are destined for great things. George is a wannabe business scion and Iggy is a small-time pot dealer and aspiring Rap mogul. Stuck together in a suffocating apartment, they are constantly at each other’s throats … convinced that their situation is temporary.
Phyllis Narcissa, an underpaid children's librarian, eagerly accepts a dinner invitation from Horace de Guenther, one of her patrons, and happily entertains his invalid wife. Later, Mrs. de Guenther encourages Phyllis to meet with Mrs. Harrington, a dying rich woman whose son Allan, once a vigorous young man, was paralyzed in an auto accident. When Mrs. Harrington proposes to the librarian that she marry and take care of Allan in exchange for his wealth, Phyllis reluctantly consents. While struggling to cheer up the eternally gloomy Allan, Phyllis welcomes the visits of his friend, a doctor who informs her that her husband's paralysis may be psychosomatic.
When young inventor Bob Moore fails in his efforts to provide his father, a safe manufacturer, with a lock that is burglar proof, he contacts The "Eel," the most talented safecracker in the city, to offer him a job in his factory. The Eel, deciding to go straight, accepts the offer, but when he later learns that Irene Hardin has been given a valuable necklace by her father, The Eel plans one last job to secure Irene's pearls.
Mrs. Standing, an old-fashioned country mother, sacrifices to put her son John through college so that he might have a better life. Upon completing school, John goes to the city where his financial success blinds him to the basic values taught to him by his mother.
When Mrs. Harrison arrives in Harborsport for her vacation, she announces her plan to marry Gladsome, her daughter, to Vincent Bradshaw, the son of her financial advisor James Bradshaw. To keep Gladsome from socializing with the local fishermen, James drives them from his property, but they organize under her and force their way back. Arrested for rabble-rousing, Gladsome is bailed out of jail by James and later meets "Alphabet" Carter, a vacationing financial wizard, for whom she has an immediate attraction.
When an aviator dies performing in a traveling circus, the circus closes and sideshow con men "Sky-High" Billy Wardell and "Domino" Dominick are arrested for giving out fake watches to wheel of fortune winners. After Domino springs the jail's lock, they jump a freight train and arrive in the next town, where Billy falls in love when Jane Higgenbotham allows them to breakfast on her freshly baked pies.
During a raging storm, a baby is washed up on shore on an island in Greece and is adopted by the wealthy Stanhopes, who name her Lorelei. Eighteen years later, Lorelei, now a woman, invites her school friends to spend their vacation at her villa. One of her guests, Julie, is insanely jealous of Lorelei. One day Gerald Waldron, a disenchanted society fop, sails by on his yacht, accompanied by his social-climbing friend, Hartley Royce. Seeing Lorelei and her friends swimming, they decide to go ashore. Both Gerald and Hartley fall in love with Lorelei, and Julie rages, finding herself relegated to Hartley. Together Hartley and Julie plot to separate the lovers.
Professor Barclay travels with the young Dorian Holbein to the big city to oversee his violinist education.
Orphaned after the death of their mother, Nancy Grimm and her baby sister Ellen are taken to the country where Ellen is adopted by the wealthy Walsh family. Nancy keenly feels the loss of her sister, and when the judge rules that she cannot visit Ellen without permission, she throws herself onto a bench, winning the sympathy of young attorney Chester Noble. Nancy is then placed in the Wick's home where she is treated as a servant. Miserable, Nancy cuts off her hair and, dressed as a boy, runs away.
Framed by police inspector Finch and his managing editor, R. H. Steadman, to cover up their own crooked work, reporter John Mull languishes in prison until he escapes, determined to wreak vengeance.
A poor shopgirl is offered a "good time" for a week by the son of her employer. She accepts, but the offer is misunderstood by her brother, who informs the girl's parents of her "fling."
James Brieson, a wealthy stockbroker, ruins Hutch Valiant, who soon after dies of the shock. Valiant's son Steele returns from the Northwest, where he won his fortune, just before his father's death and decides to devote his life to the cause of revenge.
Miner Dan Stuyvesant finally strikes it rich, but on his way to report his claim, he is shot. When Jack Dedlow, the head of a gang of outlaws, hears this news, he rides to Stuyvesant's cabin intending to secure the claim for himself. There the outlaws find Stuyvesant's daughter Hilda, the sweetheart of Tom Flynn, and are about to draw cards for her when Dago Sam pulls out his guns and spirits her out the door. Because Tom is his only friend, Sam determines to protect Hilda from the gang, but when Tom suspiciously questions his intentions toward Hilda, Sam decides to live up to the town's poor opinion of him.
"Wild Cat" Betsey Dawley, whose father, "Handsome Harry," was disowned by the proud Dawley family of Greenburgh, Kentucky, meets and thoroughly charms her snobbish cousin Virginia's fiancé, John Davidson, at a picnic. At the start of the Civil War, John becomes a Union officer, while Betsey and her father staunchly defend the South. When Confederate Colonel Morgan, the leader of the intrepid band known as "Morgan's Men," commissions a young horseman to deliver an important message to the Dawley mansion, the rider is shot and Betsey takes his place, breaking through the lines and successfully accomplishing the mission.
Richard Bolton, a timid bookworm, is too shy to declare his love for the beautiful Helen. While she remains unimpressed, however, the Countess Wintershin pursues him relentlessly, to Richard's embarrassment and her jealous husband's dismay.