Wealthy heiress Clover Dean has three suitors: Duke Boris, promoted by her aunt, Bucky Raine, a wealthy idler sponsored by her uncle, and struggling young doctor William Dunn, who is her own choice. Clover's engagement to the duke is to be announced at a dance, but she rebels before the gathering and refuses to go on with the marriage. Clover leaves hurriedly, a shot is heard and the duke found dead. Bucky Raine, discovered wandering about the garden with a revolver in his hand, is arrested for the crime, but his testimony convicts the doctor as the person who had possession of the gun during the shooting. The doctor and Clover are both arrested for suspicion, but a guilty conscience forces Rita, a former sweetheart of the duke to confess to the crime. Clover then has her own way and marries the doctor.
Chrissey Desselden is the ward of John Warburton and has promised to marry him though she is drawn to the roguish Robert Neyland. When Robert’s caddish behavior becomes too flagrant, she marries John despite still feeling a pull towards the bad boy. Conflicted, she asks her husband for time to sort out her feelings but when she discovers Neyland’s plot to destroy John’s fortune for spite she spurns him and settles into a happy marriage.
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.
Princess Cecelie of Capra, a small Alpine nation, visits the U.S. with her mother, Queen Charlotte, and becomes enamored with Jazz Age culture. The princess refuses an arranged marriage with Prince Boris of Dacia, unaware that they have already fallen in love during a chance meeting.
A schoolteacher in the Yukon promises her hand in marriage to a rich prospector, but instead she marries his no-good brother. After her husband disappears and is reported dead, she marries a rich New York stockbroker, but doesn't tell him about her first marriage. Soon she is contacted by someone who threatens to tell her new husband all about her past if she doesn't pay up.
Based on a play by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Originally released in six reels, but later cut to four due to poor reviews.
Richard Castleman, master of Winnecrest Hall in Louisiana, goes on a sea voyage recommended by his cousin and physician, Harry Chilton, who thereupon begins romancing Castleman's fiancée, Jeanne Lamont. When word arrives of Castleman's death, Chilton prepares to usurp the fortune and property of the dead man. Danny Rowland, who is found wounded by two wandering crooks, Dominie and The Squirrel, opportunely arrives at the estate seeking food and rest; and because of his resemblance to Castleman, he is welcomed as the master. Dominie is introduced as an English cleric and The Squirrel as an Italian count, while Danny falls in love with Jeanne, who believes him to be her fiancé. Chilton, however, suspects the trio and finally unmasks them. It then develops that Danny actually is Castleman, who had decided to reform the two men who befriended him and to expose the dishonesty of his cousin.
Joanna Manners is a flapper with a million-dollar figure, million-dollar looks, and a million dollars in cash. She falls in love with John Wilmore, a gut who hasn't got a dime nor a pot to put it in if he had a dime. There are those who object. Especially, the crowd of gold-digging gigolos and hustlers she knows.
Richard Hill is a subway ticket taker who believes beautiful Jeanette Stewart is involved in a robbery, but he still falls in love with her and tries to stop her wedding.
A family of down-and-out vaudevillians discover that they are the last of the Van Revels, heirs to a Southern plantation and a blood feud with the Carstairs family that began 60 years earlier over a game of croquet. After Eddie falls in love with the neighbors' daughter, a mountaineer branch of the Carstairs clan resumes the feud with the intent of annihilating the Van Revels.
Paul is a fearless French Foreign Legion officer. Ordered to quell a native uprising at a far-away outpost, he discovers that the revolt is actually a subterfuge hatched by the Arabs, so that the city under Paul's command will be left unguarded and defenseless.
Doris Matthews, a beautiful, innocent young girl, forsakes her sweetheart, Joel Barlowe, in favor of Victor Brant, a wealthy roué. On the night before they are to elope, an old sailor gives Brant a strange potion to drink and then unfolds before his eyes "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Deeply touched by this story about the consequences of the wanton destruction of innocent beauty, Brant leaves without Doris. After some time, he returns and finds to his pained satisfaction that Doris, having overcome her infatuation for him, has again turned her tender attentions toward Joel.
Though billed second, the stunningly beautiful Louise Brooks is the focal point of the campus comedy Rolled Stockings. It's the old one about two collegiate brothers, Jim and Ralph Treadway (James Hall, Richard Arlen), in love with the same girl, Carol Fleming (Brooks).
Her strict upbringing is driving Genevra French (Dorothy Phillips) crazy, so when she gets her hand on a book called "How to Attract the Opposite Sex," she takes its advice to heart. She uses her newly found wiles on Lawrence Tabor (William Stowell) and gets him to marry her. Only after the wedding does she tell him she married him just to get away from her family, and that she intends to do exactly as she pleases.
A young man is raised in the mountains by his prizefighter father. Although he possesses great strength and athletic skill, he is completely out of his league when it comes to women. He becomes a successful boxer in San Francisco and is given the name "The Abysmal Brute". When he rescues a drowning man, he meets a beautiful socialite named Maude Sangster and falls in love. His lack of social skills proves a hindrance when a rival suitor competes with him for Maude's affections.
Left penniless after the death of her reprobate father Linda Haverhill procures a loan from John Converse, who is smitten with her. She squanders the money in an attempt to maintain her social position by going abroad. During the journey Linda falls in love with Army Captain Brian Anestry of the United States Army, but foolishly burns her possessions planning to file an insurance claim to tide her over. Arrested, she is involved in a wreck which just might provide an escape for both Linda and Brian from their troubles.
Addicted to heavy gambling and strong alcohol, Bert Granger owns a saloon in which his children, Benny and pretty Alice, entertain the patrons. One night, The Stranger interferes in a drunken quarrel and becomes involved in a bitter fight, from which he emerges victorious. He is strongly attracted to Alice, and he strikes up a conversation while, at the gambling table, her father is being cheated in a crooked card game and loses the deed to the saloon. When a reward is posted for Wolf Maclean, The Stranger, who resembles the description given of the notorious bandit, is arrested.
Although Susan Branch is herself without finances, she has many wealthy friends who supply her with clothes and gay times. She is in love with struggling author Nick Lansing, who also attracts the interests of Susan's chief patron, Ursula Gillow, and is persuaded by Ellie Vanderlyn to marry him for at least a year's happiness. Their marriage falls apart when their wedding gifts are spent; they become involved with the Vanderlyns' domestic affairs; and Ursula decides she wants Nick for herself. However, the lawyer handling the Lansings' divorce proceedings brings them back together, and Nick sells his novel. A lost film.
John Bentley hates New York City, because of an unhappy romance as a young man, but his son, Ronald, tired of living in Iowa, is determined to take up residence in Manhattan. The elder Bentley therefore conspires with his New York manager, William Workman, to involve Ronald in so much trouble that he will gladly return to the sedate life of an Iowa burgher. Arriving in Manhattan, Ronald strikes up an acquaintance with Meg, a telephone operator, whose brother, Jimmy, has come under the evil influence of Jerry. Jerry and Jimmy rob a wealthy woman, and Ronald is charged with the crime on circumstantial evidence, keeping quiet in order to protect Jimmy.
Henry Wilson, a wealthy grocer who started with a pushcart and worked his way up to 40 trucks, although married becomes interested in divorcee Mona Vincent, who is trying to win Frank Clayton, a wealthy scion with whom Wilson's daughter Mary is in love. Mona promises Mary to give up Wilson if Mary will give her Clayton.