Based -- loosely -- on Leo Tolstoy, this film starred feted stage star Nance O'Neil but is rather better remembered as Theda Bara's follow-up to the sensational A Fool There Was (1914).
When her husband Jim strikes it rich, Grace, who has had a lifelong fear of poverty, strictly raises her daughter Florence to accept only luxury. When Florence is old enough to have suitors, she quickly rejects penniless artist Durland and marries rich playboy Alfred Griffin, but soon learns that he is an unfaithful spendthrift, so they soon become bitter enemies. In a final effort to ruin Florence's life, Alfred neatly arranges evidence to make her look like his murderer, then commits suicide, but the butler saw everything and is able to clear Florence of this charge; afterward she rushes to Durland and they plan to get married.
Colomba
A sorrowing mother, bereft of her infant, visits a foundling asylum and adopts a baby girl. The young window lavishes her love and care on the adopted infant and her environment is the finest. Father Time present the baby with an hour glass containing "The Sands of Time" which are all in the upper part of the glass.
In 1826 came into California by way of New Mexico and Arizona Sylvester Pattie, a Kentuckian, his son James and one other man. Though they had passports from the American authorities, Gov. Echeandia received them with great harshness, tore up their passports and threw them into prison. They were liberated after one year mainly through the influence of Donna Ysidora Sepulveda, whom James Pattie afterwards married.
John Rapley, head of Associated Baking Companies, executes a commercial coup that raises the price of bread to 6 cents a loaf. The price increase has a devastating effect on Mary Quinn, a Valencian factory girl who supports her younger brother Joel and sister Norah. Because of the higher cost, Mary can no longer afford to buy as much bread as she previously could for her family, impacting her ability to provide for them.
A jockey finds himself caught in a web of corruption. He is heavily pressured to "throw" The Derby, one of the most prestigious horse races in the world. The primary source of this pressure is the wife of a Member of Parliament, who is deeply involved in gambling and uses her influence to try and manipulate the outcome of the race for her own financial gain.
American author John B. Smart, searching for solitude and an atmosphere for a new story, purchases an old castle in Switzerland. He discovers the beautiful Aline hiding with a baby in the east tower. Daughter of an American millionaire she on running from her ex-husband Count Tarnowsky, who squandered her money and treated her brutally, but whom the courts have awarded their child. The Count arrives confronting John who overcomes him and has him thrown into the dungeon. Smart, Aline and her child flee on a sleigh speeding towards the Italian border with the escaped Count in pursuit. In the nick of time they safely cross the border and Aline consents to be John's wife.
Railroad executive Anthony Blake while navigating a divorce from his discontented wife brings his loyal secretary, Cara Deene, to live at a farm, paying her to act as his companion, which leads to scandalous misunderstandings.
Cynthia Redfield elopes with Ernest Herrick, against the wishes of her socially ambitious mother and an unscrupulous millionaire, Bronson Gibbs, who has courted Cynthia with his position. Four years later Gibbs plots with Veerah Vale, a Greenwich Village vamp, with whom Ernest becomes involved. Divorce proceedings follow with an interlocutory decree, but Cynthia and Ernest are reunited following a serious injury to their child.
Convent raised Doris Elliott moves to New York to live with her brother Richard not knowing that he is part of a drug trafficking ring controlled by unscrupulous ward boss Michael O'Leary. At first Doris remains ignorant of the pervasiveness of crime and corruption in the Lower East Side until her friend, Mamie Bronson, whose brother, "Dopey Benny," has fallen victim to drugs, confesses that O'Leary has raped her. When O'Leary breaks into their home and attempts to rape her as well, he is shot when Richard unexpectedly arrives. Finding O'Leary dead and Richard unconscious, the police arrest Doris, and she is tried for murder. Defense lawyer Thomas McDonald, who has been working to expose the politician, is losing his case when Dopey Benny testifies that he killed O'Leary to avenge his sister's assault. Acquitted Doris is now free to marry Thomas.
Adventuress Leonie Sobatsky falls in love with a young man named Nevil Trask, and he with her. Trask doesn't know that Leonie is actually the head of an international smuggling ring--and Leonie doesn't know that Trask is an undercover Secret Service agent assigned to break up the ring and capture its head.
An orphan named Innocence leaves her county home after her foster-father dies. She travels to the city and makes a living as a novelist. Subsequently, she has an affair with a painter named Amadis de Jocelyn, who later dumps her.
Mrs. Adams (Hedda Hopper) succumbs to the spirit of jazz, moves into her own apartment, and even has an affair with Mr. Bell (Charles Richman), the father of her son's sweetheart. Miss Bell (Elinor Fair) discovers their meetings, and only then does Mrs. Adams realize the unhappiness she has caused. Shortly thereafter, she effects a general reconciliation.
When she is orphaned Lily Upjohn, from the London slums, becomes a chorus girl at the Pandora Theatre. During a performance a scene painter drops some paint near Lily and her screams prompt the show's composer to create a hit song "Mind the Paint Girl," which Lily makes an overnight sensation. She is courted by young officer Nicholas Jeyes and by Lord Francombe. Driving both men to near ruin she promises marriage to both but in the end choses neither.
Ruthless stockbroker John McLane has ruined James Horton through reckless money management. McLane is extremely hard in business matters. When Horton’s son, Walter, confronts McLane they have a stormy altercation in which McLane is accidentally killed with a paper knife. McLane’s blind daughter Nora has been upstairs during the incident but runs down to find Horton sitting in a chair feigning sleep. Nora touches him lightly on the face thus impressing his features in her mind and when she turns to her father he flees. In time Nora’s blindness is cured and at a house party she meets Walter Horton. He recognizes her but she does not know him, and they fall in love but when she touches his face, she realizes the truth.
Ranch foreman Kerry has boarded with Kitty Tynan and her mother for five years in western Canada, his past is a mystery to everyone. He is actually an English aristocrat who lost all his money gambling and left the country in search of work. Kerry and his friend Horan own an option on property which crooked lawyer Burlingame is trying to secure. Burlingame's cohort Logan murders Hogan, and is caught and arrested. In the trial, Burlingame forces Kerry to admit his past, and succeeds in preventing Kerry from receiving bank assistance. When Kerry is shot, Kitty opens a letter from Kerry's wife that he had been carrying for five years, and cables her. Kerry's wife arrives and informs him that his last bet in England had turned out to be a $20,000 winner. Kerry is able to use the money just in time to foil Burlingame and secure the property, thus winning prosperity and the affections of his wife.
Drama of Indian life depicting Young Deer and Red Moon in a story about bravery.
Adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel 'The Queen's Necklace' which portrays the Affair of the Diamond Necklace which occurred before the French Revolution.
Unscrupulous politician Mark Stetson frames Mr. & Mrs. Brandon and their friend Antoinette for a smuggling racket he runs. Upon their release they swear vengeance and after Stetson once again tries to incriminate them, this time in a plot against a rival politician, justice is theirs.