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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Harried Max Davidson squares off against his grumpy neighbor James Finlayson resulting in a barrage of property destruction, chases, and silent-era pratfalls.
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.
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.
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.
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 Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's script.
Bright young student Raymond Aibelli is forced to sidetrack an important medical internship because his mother, Susan, is recovering from a broken leg. When he isn't tasked with the most mundane aspects of Susan's recuperation, Raymond finds distraction in a neighborhood girl, Toni Peck. But, as Susan begins relying on her son for both physical and emotional needs, Raymond starts developing disturbing and unwanted new yearnings.
Der Major und die Stiere
An elderly Israeli Jew of Greek origins was sent to Greece to represent his town in a town twinning ceremony, however he went instead to search for his friend from the childhood, who saved him from the Holocaust. In meantime he formed a special relationship with young Greek woman, and dealt with the broken relationship with his devout Hasidic son.
The La Chesnays live in a castle threatened with destruction to accommodate a TGV line. While Gilles, the husband, agrees to receive compensation, his wife, Maud, fights with the other villagers so that the project does not materialize.
An ex-con gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.