Via Cabaret

Bessie Allen, a girl of the slums, dances in the streets of the Lower East Side of New York to the delight of the crowds. She becomes an orphan when her father, in a drunken stupor, kills her mother, and then himself. Bessie is knocked down by the car of Mrs. Latham, a society matron, who takes an interest in the girl and procures her a job as a dress model.

In 1869, enemies of railroad magnate Richard Strong attempt to ruin him. Richard thwarts them, largely through the help of Charles Dalton, but then Charles tries to seduce Elinor, Richard's wife. Although she rebuffs Charles, Richard accuses her of infidelity, so Elinor leaves him and goes to Paris. Richard follows her, but, caught in the middle of the 1870 riots, he cannot get near her. Charles, also in Paris, finally convinces Richard that nothing had come of his interest in Elinor, but Richard now believes that Elinor no longer loves him.

An assassinated Lord's daughter refuses to marry a Chinese prince but agrees to be his mistress.

Although Kenneth Carmont and Esther Saunders, criminal Bert Saunders' sister, love each other, Esther marries detective Elwood Collins, who agrees to stop pursuing Bert if she accepts his proposal. One night, Kenneth and Esther hide Bert, who has escaped from the police. The same night, Kenneth's father is murdered. The evidence implicates Kenneth, who cannot supply his whereabouts at the time of the crime, as that would give away Bert. Esther cannot clear Kenneth for the same reason, and because it would let her husband know that she was with her former sweetheart.

Finding himself penniless, Lawrence Ashmore, whose late father was ruined on the stock exchange, obtains a position as a reporter. Ashmore is assigned to investigate the reported fatal illness of Jesse Craven, one of Wall Street's financial monarchs.

For Nita Valyez, who is half-Spanish and half-Irish, Carlos represents potential violence and danger, two things to which she is both attracted and repelled. In contrast, she has only a passing interest in Big Jim, the town's honest, good-hearted sheriff. Then, after Carlos kills a faro dealer, he forces Nita to make an escape with him.

The story opens with an old couple in the evening of life, sitting by the fireside reminiscing the happenings of their younger days. How the young man had left his country home to seek work in the great city, and after many days of wandering had found employment as an office boy in the same office with the young lady. How she had taken an interest in him and before many days had become more than friends.

Wealthy orphan Philippa L'Estrange loves handsome Norman Arleigh and is confident of marrying him until he discloses that he has only brotherly affection for her. Determined to have revenge, Philippa introduces Arleigh to Madeline Dornham and reveals on their wedding day that Madeline, his bride, is the daughter of the man who killed his mother. In the end it is learned that Madeline is Mrs. Dornham's daughter from a previous marriage, not the daughter of a criminal.

Impulsive flapper Elizabeth Winthrop, rebels against her parents and moves to New York after breaking with her fiance, Clayton Webster. Hugo Von Strohm, a wealthy playboy, procures Elizabeth a job as a chorus dancer and secretly pays her salary. After he tries to seduce her, Elizabeth sees through his kindnesses and returns to her parents and Clayton.

Sylvia Hamilton rehabilitates an alcoholic attorney and marries him. When World War I breaks out, she is persuaded to help the German cause and later commits suicide rather than compromise her husbands career.

Two men in love with the same woman are further complicated by the arrival of a second woman.

Patricia Reynolds, the belle of the summer resort she is visiting with her friend, Amy Powellson, attracts the attention of Arthur Kirby, whom Amy loves. On an evening drive, Arthur tries to kiss Patricia , whereupon she leaps from the car and walks home. While Amy, disguised in Patricia 's clothing, accompanies Arthur to a roadhouse, Patricia , walking near the beach, sees her invalid friend, Jim Wheeler, jump into the ocean intending to kill himself. After rescuing him, Patricia persuades Jim to visit a specialist, but when she later is accused of spending the night with Arthur, she refuses to defend herself in order to conceal Jim's attempted suicide.

Sally Carter Rand, married to an elderly senator, is accused of espionage, but she is able to clear herself by proving that her mysterious knitting is actually a baby sweater.

The story of a man who seeks self-aggrandizement regardless of the sacrifice of friends, sweetheart and honor, but who is finally made to realize the futility of an ambition founded on false principles.

Jane Croft is the subject of cruel gossip in Silver Creek, Arizona, in 1880, and is nicknamed "The Sage Hen." The Home Purity League drives her out of town with her son, John. She sends him back to town on a horse when they are attacked by Indians. There he is adopted by the Rudds; and when they move away, Jane loses contact with her son for 20 years. In the meantime, she becomes housekeeper to George Sanson and a "mother" to his daughter, Stella. A gold rush brings John back as a lieutenant of cavalry. He falls in love with Stella, but Craney, a gambler, threatens to expose Jane's past unless she gives Stella to him. The father is killed, but John saves his mother and Stella from further jeopardy. Jane confesses her past to her son and is able to find happiness after years of sorrow.

A tyrannical landowner terrorizes his wife and seduces the daughter of one of his employees.

Es werde Licht! 4. Teil: Sündige Mütter

The naïve Sheila Fairfax (Brent) plays with men’s emotions without fully comprehending the risks leading to several dangerous situations from which she and the man she loves to barely escape with their lives.

A murderer is driven slowly insane by a sequence of coincidences and suggestive events which will not allow him to escape his own sense of guilt for his crime.

Rosalie Lane's sister dies from overwork at the Treadwell mills. Asking the company for enough money to bury her sister she is denied leading to desperate measures on her part. After many struggles she can save herself from a life of squalor and find happiness.