Life's Greatest Problem

District Attorney Holden and his special investigator Betty Higgins are trying to convict brothers Joe and Lou Manson, silk-racket hoods, after they are indicted for murder.

John Reeves, steel magnate, wagers with his son Chester that he can earn twenty dollars a week and live on it. He procures work in the office of William Hart's steel plant. Against her brother's wish, Hart's sister Muriel adopts a little boy. Hart evens up by adopting John Reeves as his father. Reeves foils James Pettison's plot to ruin Hart. Chester also makes good as a workman and wins the affection of Hart's sister. The father reveals his identity and takes Hart as a partner.

When elderly Joseph Moreau and his young wife Therese offer refuge to starving young dramatist Paul Savary, gossips begin to spread rumors of a love affair between the wife and the writer. For the good of all concerned, Paul moves into separate quarters. One day Paul overhears the gossip again at a café and challenges the purveyor of the lie to a duel. Moreau, for his own satisfaction, takes Paul's place in combat and is mortally wounded. Moreau staggers to Paul's apartment where he discovers Therese, who has come to beg the writer to refuse to fight.

Dr. Stannard Wayne -- like all "good" men of the times -- is a God-fearing soul. He marries the former mistress of his friend, Dr. Arthur Richards, without knowing her past. Richards, an abortionist, resumes his affair with the woman and runs off with her. But before he leaves, he frames Wayne for one of the illegal operations he has done, and the innocent man is sent to prison for five years. When he gets out, Wayne has become angry and cynical.

Gordon Palmer is a lazy and cowardly rich man's son. When he and his fiancée, Aileen Merton, are held up by two crooks, Slug Williams and Beef O'Connell, he passively allows them to take whatever they want. At least he comes to life when they try to steal Aileen's engagement ring -- he scares them into giving that back. Aileen, however, is pretty fed up with him.

Nurse Lucy Weston, seeks revenge and marries a young millionaire she believes is responsible for her father's death.

Andrew Maxwell is so intent on creating a universal language that he completely neglects his wife, Laurette, and daughter, Ruth. Laurette decides she wants to return to the stage and is encouraged by Charles Prescott, a former suitor. When Maxwell discovers Laurette and Prescott together, he berates her, and she angrily moves out, taking Ruth along with her.

Jacqueline Laurentine Boggs, the daughter of an American hog farmer, is schooled in France and comes to stay with an English family. There she brings a dose of reality to her snobby hosts.

The plot concerns a war hero who returns home determined to give up his old ways as a crook. Bud Doyle (Milton Sills) is still being hounded by the cops, and both his wife (Marcia Nanon) and a former associate, a dishonest politician, want to do him in.

Minister John Hodder becomes rector of a prestigious church in the Midwestern city of Bremerton but finds dissension and malfeasance among his congregation. When he calls it out both tragedy and a way forward are revealed.

In a jealous rage dancer Anna Janssen shoots her common-law husband Alastair De Vries in a cafe when she discovers him with a chorus girl. Fleeing to Tahiti she is tracked by detective Thomas McCarthy who arrests her. On their return journey they are marooned on a deserted island. After 2 years together, they realize their love and take marriage vows, but when a ship is sighted, she insists, against his wishes, that she return to face trial.

An American Indian child, maltreated by her mother and other tribespeople, accompanies her family to a nearby town to buy supplies. There, local white settlers — a couple and their young daughter — befriend the child and give her a doll, her first and only toy. Meanwhile, another tribesman is wantonly killed by a settler. Enraged, the Indians plan revenge and organize a war-party to attack the town. The Indians also take from the child the doll she was given and smash it. The child mourns her broken doll, and buries it with traditional tribal rites. Alarmed that her new friends will be harmed when the town is attacked, the child rushes ahead of the war-party to give warning of the imminent attack. In the raid the child is struck by a bullet, and makes her painful way to her doll’s burial site. Alone, she dies.

Orphaned heiress Katherine Bradley, known as "Kit," is an orphan and heiress is attending a fashionable and select seminary for young women. A favorite of the dean, she is allowed to take her automobile for a spin every evening with the proviso that she takes a chaperone with her. Willful Kit manages to slip out alone one day and has a blowout by the roadside. Young and handsome Gerald Cameron is passing by and offers a hand. Kit and he are instantly attracted and after many complications they are finally happily united.

Uncle Sam is mistaken for Marion's uncle Sam.

With an eye towards social climbing wealthy Dustan Renshaw breaks his engagement with Janet Preece to wed socialite Leslie Brown. Moving abroad after marriage Leslie welcomes her friends the Stonehays while Dustan is away, accompanied by their private secretary, Janet Preece. Janet's sudden illness compels her to remain, and the two women become fast friends. Leslie learns the story of Janet's betrayal by a man known to her only as "D. R. Devastated to learn the truth Leslie leaves Dustan but as time passes, they are reunited at Janet's deathbed.

The quiet life style of Ruth Heck and her brother Lem, who belong to a religious sect called the Seekers, is disrupted when a judge imprisons Lem for a crime he did not commit.

Grace Ainsworth wants to return to her career as an opera singer, and her mother-in-law supports her. Grace's husband, Edwin, wants her to stay at home and to convince her, he relates the story of his latest play about a man who allows his wife to return to the stage. Edwin comes to believe that Grace is in love with Harold Chase, a manager, and the couple separates. Edwin has an affair with a dancer, Madeline, and he winds up in a fight with her dancing partner, Vincenti, which causes him to lose his memory.

Jimmy Nevins--once wealthy and now engaged to Doris Standish--is reduced to poverty and jilted by her when he is befriended by Mary Butler, the leader of a gang of crooks.

Seduced and abandoned by the caddish Louis La Farge shepherdess Marie Beaupre is cast out of the village and forced to survive in the mountains alone. Driven mad she becomes known as “the witch woman” until hypnotist Dr. Cochefort and his friend Delaunay encounter her while on a hunting trip, take her to Paris, and effectuate a cure at which time she becomes heir to Delaunay's fortune. All seems clear sailing until Marie is introduced to Louis's twin brother Maurice and mistaking him for Louis sets forth on a plan for revenge.

Bonnie and Cliff meet cute when she gives him a lift after his car has broken down. Turns out she’s getting ready to open a beauty parlor and bleaches her hair platinum blonde to drum up business much to the chagrin of a local woman’s group. However, when Cliff’s wealthy mother invites Bonnie to be guest of honor at her yacht party things turn around both business and personally for the pair.