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.
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.
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.
A press agent helps a honky tonk spot draw a new elite patronage but a troublemaker arrives on the scene as well and disrupts the romance between the male and female stars.
Felix, the King of Wallonia, has to marry Louise, Princess of the neighboring State of Trebizond. The old Prince, her father, craves the elixir of youth, and gets drunk so often that Trebizond is in bad shape. Thus, it is up to Felix to be King of both States. But Louise has a love affair with Stepan, the heir presumptive to his throne, and Felix flees to America in disguise. By a strange twist of circumstance he takes a job as butler in the home of J.P. Morton, multi-millionaire. There he meets Marcia, Morton's daughter, and the jig is up. He loves her.
Crooked banker Peter V. Wilkinson intentionally drives his own company into bankruptcy and puts the bank's deposits into a secret account he has set up using his daughter Leslie's name. A series of events occurs in which Leslie finds out what her father has done and sets out to get him to return all the money he has stolen.
Addicted youth Roy Wilson steals his architect father's bid for a railway contract to pay gambling debts to Graham Madison, but the theft leads to his father's death and an attempt to frame Roy's sister Jessie's sweetheart, Carew. After Carew is wrongly accused, a confession from Roy and the exposure of Madison and Carew's plotting lead to Madison's arrest, Carew's vindication, and hope for the future.
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.
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.
The story of a ruddy-cheeked rural postman who dabbles in poetry-writing on the side. He utilizes his hobby to spread a bit of sunshine throughout the village, at one point reuniting a long-estranged family.
A Duel for Love is a 1914 dramatic short.
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.
Sato (Sessue Hayakawa) faithfully works for importer James Thornton (James Neill). When the old man dies, he leaves his daughter Mildred (Vivian Martin) in Sato's care. Sato loves the girl, but as he is Japanese he cannot hope to ever marry her (at least not in the racially prejudiced era of the early 1900s). Besides, Mildred loves Harry Maxwell (Tom Forman), who was raised alongside her.
A young English nobleman is sent to Switzerland by his parents, where he meets a mysterious older woman with whom he has a torrid three-week romance.
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.
Young New York playboy Stephen Winthrop inherits the entire estate of his wealthy Canadian uncle but pays scant attention to it, preferring the "party" life in New York. He is unaware that the family attorney, Frank Garson, has forbidden hunting on the Winthrop lands in Canada, cutting off the livelihoods of the local villagers. Mary Cartier, goddaughter of the village priest, travels to New York to try to get Stephen to change the policy. He returns with her to Canada, sees what's going on, and lifts the ban, then decides to stay in Canada. Mary returns to New York to try to help Garson's abandoned and ill wife and child, but the wife dies, and Mary brings back the small child to Canada. The villagers, mistaking the child for Mary's, are outraged at this "scarlet woman" flaunting her illegitimate child and attempt to drive her out. Complications ensue.
Clay Whipple is convicted of murdering the governor following an incident involving a cat's eye pin. Whipple is sentenced to death, but a mentalist named Psychic Jack believes he is innocent since Whipple had been hypnotized at the time of the murder. The psychic persuades the judge to grant the condemned man a retrial, and he sets out to uncover the identity of the real killer, during which time he manages to prevent a second murder from occurring.
A gangster running a protection racket gets information that he's about to be prosecuted on income-tax-evasion charges. He hires a man with a photographic memory to memorize his books, then destroys them all so the police won't have any evidence to link him to the racket.
Most mothers are more or less wrong about their children. Mrs. Reed loved her youngest son, Edward, who was a clever rascal, so blindly that her eldest son, Jim, a generous but somewhat stupid boy, did not get his due dose of maternal affection. Jim was always unlucky, while Edward was never short of good clothes and plenty of money to make his pockets ring.
Chorus girl Peggy Malone marries press agent Jimmy Parsons but faces hardship when her shiftless family moves in, causing Jimmy to fall ill and go West for health. Peggy follows, becomes a film star, and ultimately chooses the now-successful Jimmy over a wealthy suitor, securing their future together.