A recently widowed and destitute young mother (Jane Novak) appeals to her wealthy and heartless father-in-law (Robert Edeson) for financial aid. Instead, he convinces her to hand over her new baby to his care so that the child will be brought up with "everything money can buy." Unbeknownst to the grandfather, we learn that there are twin sons and our heroine keeps one baby to raise herself. The narrative jumps ahead to the boy's twenty-first birthday and we see what's become of them. Not surprisingly, the wealthy son has grown up spoiled and greedy while the poor one works hard and loves his mother.
Doris is driven from her small New England fishing village when a jealous admirer implies that her mild flirtation with visiting artist Stuart Kendall was an intimate love affair. Arriving in New York, alone and penniless, Doris finds employment in a Greenwich Village café, where she again meets Stuart and agrees to become his model. Unaware of his true intentions, Doris lives at Stuart's expense and innocently evades his advances. Out West, rancher Jack Masterson sees Doris' face on a poster and journeys East to propose to her.
Genevieve Connors, a young woman from the slums who is given a chance at a better life through the help of a wealthy family, but faces class prejudice and is later involved in a criminal plot.
Hal Whitney, an irresponsible young millionaire, befriends Timothy Payne, a wise old college professor whose life had been ruined by alcohol. After "adopting" Timothy as his father, Hal introduces him to his sweetheart, Helen Maynard. The outraged Helen breaks their engagement, certain that Timothy will be a bad influence on her hard-drinking fiancé. However, both men assist in each other's reformation, and Hal is soon reunited with Helen, while Timothy marries Hal's mother, Elizabeth, whom he had loved in his youth.
In 1941, folklorist Alan Lomax traveled from the Library of Congress to the Mississippi Delta to record an oral history of the blues. Equipped with 500 pounds of audio equipment powered by his car battery, he ventured across nameless roads to discover the most beautiful and harrowing songs ever sung.
A gentleman thief has for a sweetheart and accomplice a maid, whose plan it is to get employment in a house and tip him off as to the lay of the land.
Shakespeare Clancy is a jailbird who walks out with a crowd of visitors about the time "Skeeter" Burns, the prison printer, is discharged. Learning that a legacy awaits them in Dodson, the pair depart for the small Western town. Discovering that the bequest consists of a failing county newspaper and a plot of barren land, they hatch a plan to fleece the townspeople by selling shares in a bogus oil well. Problems arise when Clancy falls in love with society editor Alice Whitney. Clancy is conflicted but then they do strike oil! Concluding that his destiny is to be an honest man, Clancy returns to jail to finish serving his term. Slipping into the crowd of visitors, he dons his prison clothes and resumes work as though nothing had happened.
Buck and Charlie, two hard-boiled cowboys, arrive at the Bar Nothing Ranch in Arizona and determine to take advantage of the peculiarity of the owner, Fred Saunders, known as "Lone Hand" because he never uses his right hand.
While visiting Atlanta, pampered Northern heiress Olive Thurston meets and marries Southerner John Ames, a member of an impoverished but old aristocratic family. John attempts to force his wife to conform to Southern ideals of womanhood, resulting in many conflicts between the newlyweds, but after a brief separation, Olive and John are reunited, resolving to look for each other's virtues and forgive the faults.
J. Gordon Edwards silent adventure melodrama about a famous poet who is allowed to rule France for a week!
A love quadrangle in a Western mining town leads to fisticuffs and reconciliation before the fade out.
A neglectful woman wants custody of her children in her divorce. The judge rules that he will give her the children only if she can demonstrate her children's love for her within a week.
An honest worker, John Whitney, finds himself unemployed and unable to provide for his family. Desperate, he robs a rich man's home and is arrested. One of the police officers is an old friend and accompanies Whitney home to allow a farewell with his wife. Humiliated, Whitney decides to kill himself and his family. The rich man learns of his desperate situation and arrives in time to save the family and drops the charges.
Set in London (but filmed in New Jersey), the story endeavors to prove that man's greatest enemy is liquor. When elderly tosspot John Warriner is shot for trespassing, Warriner's son holds property owner Sir Arthur Stanton. Thus begins a bitter and deadly feud between the Warriner and Stanton clans, fueled by rotgut booze.
Henri Le Rocque's arrival in an island village causes much anger when he insists upon advanced rental for the land he owns. Accompanying Le Rocque is his nephew Paul, who is recovering from a broken heart. One day, little flower girl Fleurette visits the Le Rocque estate to make a present of a rare flower and is shot as a trespasser. She is nursed back to health at the mansion, and Paul falls in love with her. However, trouble is brewing in the village which will endanger all their lives.
Two eccentric Frenchmen argue for the hand of an eligible American girl, who finally discouraged both of them by introducing her betrothed.
Reed, a small-time baseball manager in love with Lucille Bascom, takes the blame for a game-fixing scandal to protect her brother, Phil, the team's star pitcher. Disgraced, Reed becomes a reporter and uncovers a plot by the game-fixer, Ward Hastings, and a corrupt wrestler, Butch, to oust Lucille’s father from his mayoral office. After a climactic confrontation where Hastings dies and Reed defeats Butch, Phil confesses, clearing Reed's name. Reed reunites with Lucille and is appointed the town's new police chief.
Big Steve and Little Lefty, a pair of hobos, are happily drifting through life until the First World War comes and enter it and find their lives forever changed.
During World War I, Francine D'Espard, a young French woman, meets William Holliday, a U.S. Army officer at the front, and they become engaged. Returning to America, William finds his father at the mercy of his business rival, Ezekiel Bates. Shortly after, when Francine arrives in America to marry her fiancé, she is informed that her lover is about to marry Bates's daughter Susan. Her love now turning to hate, Francine devotes herself to the task of destroying her former suitor.
Jefferson Hunter (Frank Keenan) is a Western mining man. Anne Kepple (Catherine Adams) has inherited the mine next to his, but a loan shark steals it from her. Hunter helps her get it back, and out of gratitude Anne marries him, even though she is half his age.