When the parents of Laurie Killikrankie realized their daughter was of marriageable age, each sets about to find her a mate. Dame Killikrankie selected Laird MacNutt. The father favored Laird MacNabb. Laurie decided that Tammy, a poor stalwart lad, was the ideal of her dreams.
Forced to wear quaint short dresses and pigtails so that she will inspire her grandfather's sentimental poetry, nineteen-year-old Joy Havenith longs for companions of her own age.
When Mary Murdock is forced by circumstances to choose between the street and theft, she is caught breaking into the home of Robert Howard and is sentenced to prison. Unable to find employment after serving her prison term, Mary seeks out Howard and finds him about to commit suicide, depressed over his wife's leaving him for another man. Mary saves his life and convinces him to champion the cause of prison reform, in which he proves so successful that he is appointed warden, placing him in conflict with the political boss.
The Unwritten Law is a 1916 drama
Mother O'day, running her saloon after the death of her husband, places her daughter in the care of Mrs. Kendall, a high society woman. Later, in the prohibition era, Molly returns to the saloon-turned-cabaret as a flapper with her co-star Mark Roth. Considered a lost film.
Rose Jorgenson, a poor tenement dweller who lives with her daughters Rose and Norma in a slum and whose husband is in prison, finds out that he is to be electrocuted. Distraught, she commits suicide. The children are adopted--Rose by the wealthy Judge Keith, who brings her up in the lap of luxury, and Norma by a poor neighbor, who raises her in the squalid tenement she was born in. After they reach adulthood Norma is hired as an assistant to the shady hypnotist Caistro, who also knows Rose and notices the strong resemblance between the two. Complications ensue.
Henry intends to leave his wife for Mrs. Lenning but seeks to retain custody of their son, leading to a situation where they attempt to force Mrs. Jackson to run away, allowing him to secure a divorce.
A neglected mother is tempted to stray, but she is saved by her baby's voice, whom she hears talking on the telephone.
Chorus girl Teena Johnson may be "hard-boiled," but she's no golddigger. Thus, when the father of her wealthy sweetheart Kyle Stannard tries to buy her off, Sally refuses the money. She sticks by Kyle even after he is disinherited and forced to go to work. The financial strain on the young couple's marriage eventually takes its toll, and before long they separate, with Sally returning to the chorus line to square her husband's debts.
Sportsman Donald Lee is disfigured while procuring a rare black leopard skin for spoiled debutante Mabel Davis, who then rejects him because of his injury. He finds true love with her mistreated cousin, Doris Lambert who accepts him despite his scar.
A young man, pressured by his father to choose a wealthy bride over his true love, dreams of marrying the rich girl. The dream vividly depicts the unhappiness and financial ruin that follow. Upon awakening, he resolves to marry the girl he loves. His father, seeing the dream's truth, relents, and the young man marries his beloved, leading to a happy ending.
A policeman and a factory worker are both courting a young lady who works at the plant. She favors the cop which distresses the worker who frames the policeman to appear drunk after he’s suffered a fall. The cop is dismissed in disgrace though the girl sticks by him while everyone else turns away. Wracked with guilt but fearful of coming forward his decision is made for him when the now former policeman saves the worker’s mother from an apartment fire. He admits his plot and the officer and the girl are wed.
A jockey finds himself caught in a web of corruption. He is heavily pressured to "throw" The Derby, one of the most prestigious horse races in the world. The primary source of this pressure is the wife of a Member of Parliament, who is deeply involved in gambling and uses her influence to try and manipulate the outcome of the race for her own financial gain.
Railroad executive Anthony Blake while navigating a divorce from his discontented wife brings his loyal secretary, Cara Deene, to live at a farm, paying her to act as his companion, which leads to scandalous misunderstandings.
American author John B. Smart, searching for solitude and an atmosphere for a new story, purchases an old castle in Switzerland. He discovers the beautiful Aline hiding with a baby in the east tower. Daughter of an American millionaire she on running from her ex-husband Count Tarnowsky, who squandered her money and treated her brutally, but whom the courts have awarded their child. The Count arrives confronting John who overcomes him and has him thrown into the dungeon. Smart, Aline and her child flee on a sleigh speeding towards the Italian border with the escaped Count in pursuit. In the nick of time they safely cross the border and Aline consents to be John's wife.
John Rapley, head of Associated Baking Companies, executes a commercial coup that raises the price of bread to 6 cents a loaf. The price increase has a devastating effect on Mary Quinn, a Valencian factory girl who supports her younger brother Joel and sister Norah. Because of the higher cost, Mary can no longer afford to buy as much bread as she previously could for her family, impacting her ability to provide for them.
A sorrowing mother, bereft of her infant, visits a foundling asylum and adopts a baby girl. The young window lavishes her love and care on the adopted infant and her environment is the finest. Father Time present the baby with an hour glass containing "The Sands of Time" which are all in the upper part of the glass.
In nineteenth century Mesopotamia a series of romantic enganglements ensue.
John and Tom Wilkins are brothers and most divergent in natures. John is a clergyman and a noble, upright fellow, while Tom is a scapegrace, wild, reckless and unscrupulous. Not having the parental guidance so essential in youth, his father being dead and his mother blind, he drifted into bad company, the contaminating influence deeply affecting his susceptible nature.
A refined criminal keeps his life secret from his daughter. When he gets trouble from the police after shooting one of his underworld associates, he enlists in the US Army and goes to fight in France during World War I. While in France, he serves alongside a young man who is in love with his daughter.