Amy Lindel, a church choir singer, goes to the city to pursue a singing career, but finds herself only able to get cabaret gigs. She then becomes entangled in a situation involving stolen diamonds, and is saved by the "good guy" whom she later marries.
Henry Egbert Xerxes' big chance as a cub reporter comes when he is assigned to track down a gang of counterfeiters which gathers regularly at the Red Dog Inn. As he leaves the office, Henry witnesses a girl being dragged into a cab -- the same girl he had seen that morning passing counterfeit money. Henry follows, but on overtaking the cab, he finds it empty. At the Red Dog Inn, he discovers that the girl is being held captive. After a series of rough and tumble adventures with the resident thugs, he and the girl escape, after which he rushes home to write up the story. When it fails to appear in print, Henry storms into the city room only to discover that the entire business was a hoax, intended to test his reporter's instincts.
Therèse is a young woman who has married an older man to be able to live a wealthier life.
Lisetta, the daughter of a fisherman, lives with her father and brother on the island of Capri. When Serrani, an Italian who has grown wealthy in New York, visits the island, he induces Lisetta to accompany him to America. There he abandons her and she becomes a dancer in an underworld café owned by "Dago" Joe, where she meets the artist Stanford Graham, who employs her as a model. Meanwhile, Lisetta's brother Domenic comes to New York to avenge his sister's dishonor.
Nancy Croyden, born of British nobility, languishes in the slums of New York after she elopes with Terrence Flynn, a groom on her father's estate. Nancy dies there, leaving behind a daughter, Susan Flynn, who grows to adulthood in the Bowery. In search of her family, Susan returns to England where she befriends Sir Bevis Neville, an English peer in disguise.
Hartley, fascinated by the vampish Leonie, steals and serves a term in prison. Not satisfied with this downfall, Leonie again works her womanly charms upon Dr. Gerald, who is engaged to Johanna, the adopted daughter of Dr. McLean. Learning of the woman's designs on the young doctor, Hartley denounces her in Gerald's presence. In response, Gerald foolishly renounces Johanna and his friendship with Dr. McLean. However, when Leonie discovers that Johanna is her own daughter whom she had deserted as a child, she becomes conscience-stricken, gives up the young man and begs forgiveness.
Indore, an Indian woman married to the English Captain Terence Unger is imprisoned by the prince after she gives birth to a baby daughter named Agatha. On his deathbed, Unger beseeches his friend Francis Duane to care for Agatha which Duane does, returning to England with the infant.
In the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the Young Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie leads an insurrection to overthrow the Protestant House of Hanover and restore his family, the Catholic branch of the House of Stuart, to the British throne.
In his crusade against the city’s gambling houses District Attorney Graham runs afoul of lawyer Judson Flagg who owns a notorious joint. Trying to deflect Graham, Flagg introduces his aide Joe Hunter to the D.A.’s daughter Aline. The slick Hunter convinces Aline to marry in secret. When Hunter shots Graham during a raid he extorts a necklace from Aline by confessing their marriage is a sham arranged to politically harm her father and threatening exposure. Hunter flees but Flagg attempts to put the girl in a compromising position, but she is saved in the nick of time.
An assassinated Lord's daughter refuses to marry a Chinese prince but agrees to be his mistress.
A blackmailed ex-thief is executed for a murder he didn't commit.
Karl Sterner falls for Jenny, a beautiful young woman from an impoverished background, and soon discovers that he cannot control her willful personality - which proves to cause many conflicts in their marriage.
A wealthy Russian family faces change and challenges as events unfold during the First World War.
When Mary and Fannie Graham, daughters of a good mother but a father with criminal instincts, are left motherless, Mary flees from her unhappy surroundings while Fannie, inheriting her father's disposition, remains and is raised as a thief.
After his defeat at the hands of "Spider" Flynn, the welterweight champion of Europe, boxer Jimmie Dolan and his trainer, Thomas Jefferson Jones, leave for a principality near Paris. Having lost all their money on the fight, Jimmie accepts Count Conrad's offer to impersonate Prince Frederick in return for a large sum of money.
Tommy Buckman, the ne'er-do-well son of dime store magnate John Buckman, is given one last chance to succeed by surveying a possible location in New England for the opening of another store in his father's chain. Arriving in the town of Winton, Tommy lands in jail and, disowned by his father, is bailed out by Nina Potter, whose father owns the only dime store in town.
From a Montana mining camp, a young man progresses to the society heights of New York, making his mark publicly as a dancer, but secretly as a gentleman burglar.
Robert "Bob" Wesley horrifies his father, Admiral John Wesley of the Naval Advisory Board, by failing his examination at the Annapolis naval academy. Bob seizes the chance to redeem himself, however, when he overhears Hanson, the butler, plotting with German agent Count Von Ornstorff to deliver his father's plans for the Atlantic coastal defenses to German Baroness Von Hulda. In Baltimore, Bob meets the baroness' ship and, with the aid of an old college professor, makes her his prisoner. Having impersonated a woman in the college play, Bob disguises himself as the baroness, rendezvous with the spies, and obtains the plans.
Dick Evans is the corrupt boss of a rough-and-tumble munitions town called Powderville. He hires his friend, Jack Ripley, to establish a newspaper, intending merely to further his own financial ambitions; however, Jack envisions The Trumpet as an instrument of good and soon persuades Dick to clean up Powderville.
Miner Dan Stuyvesant finally strikes it rich, but on his way to report his claim, he is shot. When Jack Dedlow, the head of a gang of outlaws, hears this news, he rides to Stuyvesant's cabin intending to secure the claim for himself. There the outlaws find Stuyvesant's daughter Hilda, the sweetheart of Tom Flynn, and are about to draw cards for her when Dago Sam pulls out his guns and spirits her out the door. Because Tom is his only friend, Sam determines to protect Hilda from the gang, but when Tom suspiciously questions his intentions toward Hilda, Sam decides to live up to the town's poor opinion of him.