Mr. Hadley shows Bill a photograph of his fiancée, Alice Mordaunt, and instructs Bill to admit her immediately should she arrive at the office. Bill leaves for lunch. Upon his return, he discovers his boss kissing Ethel, who is Mr. Hadley's sister, not his fiancée. Bill, unaware of their family relationship, is horrified, believing his boss is being unfaithful to Alice Mordaunt. Feeling a strong sense of loyalty to the absent fiancée, Bill decides to get even with his boss. He informs Mr. Hadley's real fiancée, Alice, about his boss's perceived "duplicity". The outcome is a comical situation as Bill's interference leads to misunderstandings and fallout, which is how Bill "squares it" with his boss.
Charles, Joseph and Sir Benjamin are in love with Maria and Lady Sneerwell is in love with Charles.
Priscilla’s husband Lee makes her life unhappy because of his unfounded jealousy. She warns her old college buddy Eddie not to pay any attention to her at the dance which they are to attend. Eddie loves the wealthy Estelle but is always getting mixed up in some scandal. Estelle finally declares that one more escapade on his part will finish everything. When Priscilla and Eddie greet each other at the dance as old friends, the other two become jealous. Estelle and Lee determine to make their partners jealous but make a mess of it until all is straightened out in the end.
Sensible Betty Manners is the wife of the frivolous John Manners. John fritters away his time playing the horses rather than paying attention to his job on Wall Street. He pays dearly for this when the market goes wrong, and he is wiped out. Coincidentally an old friend, Sir Harry, arrives bringing the news of a vast fortune left Betty and she is now Lady Betty. Betty keeps the news a secret from John, who has taken up with a Mrs. Airlie. But as John comes to believe Betty has become involved with Sir Harry, his jealousy is awoken, and he acts rashly until explanations all around straighten everything out.
A man tries to burgle his own safe on the same night that a professional criminal attempts it.
A young man marries an actress, but meanwhile her uncle has signed a contract binding her to spinsterhood, many complications arise.
While working as a dishwasher in a fashionable New York hotel, Elsie MacFarland often sneaks upstairs to enviously peek at the people dancing to jazz music. Seeing the attractive Elsie dressed in a boy's uniform, wealthy Lemuel Stallings wagers a friend that he can get Elsie onto the dance floor....
Heeding the pleas of Bobbie Brown, Jimmie Jones packs his trunk full of liquor to present to his desperate friend and hops on a train. Upon his arrival, Jones discovers that his cargo has been purloined in transit, and while attempting to replenish his supplies by bargaining with the local bootlegger, is detected by the local sheriff.
Tony and Freddie, who have been rivals all their lives, vie for the hand in marriage of their childhood sweetheart. Big Freddie has the upper hand when Tony gets himself kidnapped by a ring of muggers whose M.O. is to have one of their members dress up as a woman to lure men into the back seat of their limousine, where they are beaten up and robbed.
Olga Nelson, a Swedish maidservant, working at a boarding house that caters to college students, is particularly fond of one of them, wealthy Tom Gordon. When Tom receives word that his father has lost his fortune and he must quit school, he loses the remainder of his money in a poker game. Meanwhile, Olga inherits her Uncle Sven's fortune when he dies, but the will stipulates that she will receive the money only if she marries before her next birthday. She marries Gordon to get him out of debt but he spurns her affections because he thinks that she is socially inferior. They soon separate, and she goes out West where she falls into the clutches of nefarious fortune hunters who say that they will make a lady of her. Gordon returns to school and later, when she has become a "lady," they meet again. Through a misunderstanding they quarrel, but eventually Gordon realizes that she is being used by criminals and he saves her, after which they start their marriage over.
Cockney racing tipster Evans (Miller) is asked by a nouveau riche and socially aspirant couple to train a racehorse they have bought.
When a secretary overhears her boss disparaging her looks, she decides to show him how wrong he is.
Sure-Fire Flint, an energetic chap just returned from wartime military service, meets June De Lanni, the girl of his dreams, while working as a cabdriver and busboy. Her father gives Flint a job in his factory, but Dipley Poole, who hoped to marry June, becomes jealous of Flint's success and attempts to rob the company safe. June is trapped in the safe, but after a series of adventures, Flint arrives in time to rescue her.
Three Broadway chorus girls seek rich husbands.
Identical orphaned twins Rosalie (Mollie King) and Susan (Mollie King), are adopted by two aunts and live in separate households. Susan develops as a poor, wholesome farm girl, and Rosalie becomes a wealthy snob. Susan's beau, Ted Harper (Creighton Hale), confuses the girls' identities, but Susan wins his love after preventing Rosalie from eloping with scoundrel "Slick" Harry Ives (Jerome Lawler).
Aristocrat Lord Dawlish is told by his girlfriend's father that he must find a job if he wishes to continue seeing her. He finds employment as a dancing partner at a dance club and prospers in his new role, despite facing a jealous rival.
Ann Barton, the daughter of a once-wealthy family, is forced to clerk at the cigar counter of a village hotel, where she meets James McDonald, a breezy, handsome salesman. Ann is adopted by an aristocratic aunt, who disapproves of James's manners and breaks up Ann's relationship with him. Ann soon revenges herself on her aunt by placing both her aunt and herself in compromising positions.
Clean-cut Hugh Carver, a promising freshman, arrives at Sanford College with lofty ideals. His focus on academics and sports is quickly derailed when he falls for popular flapper Cynthia Day and her modern, carefree attitude plus—as the title suggests—her bold red lips. As Hugh is drawn into a world of jazz, late-night parties, and "petting" sessions, his grades suffer. As he struggles to balance the temptations of the era’s rebellious youth culture with his personal integrity and athletic ambitions Hugh must decide if his romance with Cynthia is worth the potential ruin of his future.
Philandering husband George Montfort purchases railroad tickets for a weekend tryst in the mountains with his latest paramour. When his wife Yvonne finds the tickets, George hastily explains that they were bought as an anniversary present for her. Yvonne doesn't believe George, but she decides to use her ticket anyway, while George remains behind in Paris on "business."
American newspaper reporter Jim Crocker's madcap escapades in London earn him notoriety and the nickname "Piccadilly Jim." When he overhears his American cousin by marriage, Ann Chester, giving her candid opinion of him, he decides to return to America to try to reform. He meets Ann on the boat, using another name. Unable to find work in New York, he goes to his step aunt Mrs. Peter Pett's home to be near Ann. Jim then helps Ann kidnap pampered cousin Ogden Pett whose overindulgence has created disruption in the household.