Unscrupulous politician Mark Stetson frames Mr. & Mrs. Brandon and their friend Antoinette for a smuggling racket he runs. Upon their release they swear vengeance and after Stetson once again tries to incriminate them, this time in a plot against a rival politician, justice is theirs.
When burlesque dancer Elois Murree gives birth to her daughter Yvette, she sends to a fashionable boarding school away from the stage environment and her drunken husband. Yvette visits infrequently but during one sojourn Murree slashes Elois' left eye in an argument forcing Elois, now veiled, to perform billed as the Masked Queen. Yvette becomes attracted to her friend’s brother, Rex, she avoids him after she learns that he wants his prospective bride to come from a good family. Yvette becomes a burlesque queen, but a distraught Elois tries to kill her to save her soul and then commits suicide, leaving the bloodied knife in the hands of her drunken husband, who then is arrested. Later, Yvette finds happiness with Rex.
Geological expert John Leighton naïvely introduces his flirtatious wife Emily to his boss, W. G. Griggs. Griggs sends John to the Graypeak district to prospect for quarries and is soon involved in an affair with Emily. While in the mountains, John rescues Enid Arden from an attack and she falls in love with him. Returning home John discovers the affair and leaves Emily. Emily and Griggs go to Europe to avoid a scandal and while there start divorce proceedings. But Griggs’ philandering ultimately costs him his life and Emily tracks John to Graypeak. Although she tries to win John back a fateful train ride clears the way for John and Enid to face a happy future together.
Hosiah Howe struggles to earn his living on a farm that lies in the shadow of a wealthy summer resort. Visiting the resort are Dr. Rand, his daughter Virginia, and a scoundrel named Ward Andrews. One day Andrews stops at the Howe farm and discovers that the land contains water with a highly-exploitable medicinal value. Smelling money, Andrews convinces Dr. Rand to buy an option on the farm, then runs away to the city with Hosiah's innocent sister Martha.
A young wife slaves for her cad of a husband. When she learns that he has been "stepping out" with his secretary, she gets revenge by going after the attentions of her husband's employer.
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.
A shell-shocked black soldier is cared for by a miner and his daughter when he wanders into their camp, and makes a fresh start in life with the aid of the American Legion.
Upon striking oil on his farm, Silas T. Pettingill (Charles Eldridge) moves to Park Avenue at the behest of his social-climbing wife Maria (Kate Blancke) and daughter Helen (Emmy Wehlen). But like Jiggs in the comic strip, Pettingill never loses his common touch, and one evening he goes out on a toot with his new chauffeur Hubert Stanwood (Paul Gordon).
A socially ambitious woman who convinces her father to borrow money from a snobbish man.
A family's newfound wealth causes problem after problem.
When an infirm husband learns of the dire circumstances his wife must endure, he makes every effort to bring himself back to health.
John is seduced and abandoned by a cruel flirt. Later he learns that his friend Frank is engaged to the same woman. He relates his story to Frank and convinces him to jilt her at the altar.
A woman replaces her injured beau on a spy mission.
Lady Florence hides her lover, a Prussian spy, from the French troops who are hunting for him. One of her other suitors, a French officer, discovers the hiding place and threatens to kill the spy.
Katherine Nevin and her brother Jack are given positions on the newspaper of James Osborne following their father's death. Osborne's city editor, Charles MacLaughlin, who is hated and feared by his business associates, is strongly attracted to Katherine, who accepts his mother's invitation to dinner. In spite of his ruthless manner Katherine tries to change the atheistic views of "Mac" and his embittered crippled brother, Angus.
An understudy to a haughty star thinks she can have whatever she wants, including the show's leading comedian. But Claude has fallen for Gaby, and when the star finds out she threatens to walk off the show unless Gaby is discharged.
The Denton's marital happiness brings home to Randall the loneliness of his own existence. Shortly afterwards, the young man meets Pearl Eltinge, a cabaret singer. Ignorant of the fact that her beauty is a mask for a shallow mind, Randall makes her his wife.
A young wife instigates a duel between a dashing count, with whom she has been having an affair, and her elderly husband. In the duel, the husband is mortally wounded and his now repentant wife chooses to join him in death.
An honest man trades places with a convict so the convict can see his dying wife, but he is killed on his way back to prison. The governor must step in to assure the right man is released from prison.