Mary Miles Minter is Sylvia, the niece of a man who leaves her a fortune. The money is in the hands of his lawyer, Baxter, who uses it to support his ambitious wife and daughter. Sylvia comes to Baxter's home and it's obvious she's not wanted there. Arnold, Baxter's son, is wasting his life away with drinking and nightclubbing, but Sylvia sweetly influences him to straighten up.
Young Jackie Kernwood, the daughter of the colonel commanding an army post, is bored with the routines of post life, and to break the monotony she organizes a girls' brigade, of which her father disapproves. When the colonel forces her to disband the group, she makes up her mind to run away and become a nurse in the Red Cross. Before she can do that, however, she stumbles across evidence of a spy ring headed by an officer on the post that is plotting to blow up a troop train--and it looks like the chief spy is her boyfriend, Lt. Adair.
George Periolat plays a dual role in this film, initially as Joseph Sayles a sickly old man who has taken his daughter, Rhoda (played by Mary Miles Minter), overseas after a quarrel with his family. She yearns to return home, but he has disowned his past. After his death, Rhoda ventures to America on her own. She nearly becomes destitute for a lack of money but happens upon some questionable fortune as she takes on the chores of Rosy Taylor after inadvertently finding an envelope with money in it. Rosy had been hired as a housekeeper (thus the money), but has passed away before actually showing up for employment.
John Stonehouse (William Russell) checks into a hotel, intending to commit suicide. But instead he winds up helping a girl, Gilberte Bonheur (Fritzi Brunette), out of a jam. He finds her bending over a man who she has apparently killed, and since he's about to kill himself anyway, he offers to assume the blame. Throw a valuable emerald into the works, and the fact that the dead man suddenly comes back to life, and Stonehouse -- not to mention the audience -- becomes thoroughly befuddled by it all. Everything clears up, however, when Gilberte gives him a theater ticket -- it turns out that everything he went through was the plot to a stage play, enacted in real life by the actors. The critics roasted the play, saying it wasn't true to life, and this was their proof that the situations really could happen. Gilberte retires from acting when Stonehouse proposes.
Chief of the German secret service in Paris has been ordered to secure for his government the service of the most clever and beautiful woman obtainable.
Rich young Joan Hope is ashamed of how her father made his money--as a chewing gum magnate. While taking a train trip, she meets the Countess of Crex, a member of the Russian nobility--who is, in reality, a jewel thief.
After his young wife dies, Phillip Fletcher, a millionaire and sculptor, makes his home on an uncharted desert island. Harry LeRoy, a cad who is courting the widow Mrs. Hansen, desires the widow's convent-bred daughter Norma and persuades mother and daughter to accompany him on a sea cruise. When the ship catches fire, Norma, abandoned by LeRoy and her mother in the confusion, is washed ashore on Phillip's island.
Mary marries Claude, a rich playboy, to please her invalid mother who becomes ill before they leave for a South American honeymoon.
Four lifelong friends share one very special summer. They develop an enduring bond despite their distinctly different emerging personalities.
William Russell plays Cliff Redfern, a hard-ridin' Westerner who takes a liking to Easterner Ned Caldwell (Cullen Landis), the dissolute son of a wealthy cattle rancher. Certain that all Caldwell needs to become a "real man" is a dose of frontier life, Cliff kidnaps Ned and brings him back to the wide open spaces.
Publisher Burton exposes politician Jarvis as a crook and is run out of town. He asks his daughter Sylvia to turn the newspaper over to his editor Frank. Instead, Sylvia fires Frank and takes the publisher’s duties herself.
Pinky Cochrane is one of a trio of starving artists: the other two are Sam Wellbridge and Mac MacTavish. When one of their favorite models dies, the three heroes take charge of the woman's infant son Victor. Once the boy has grown to manhood, his three foster fathers decide to choose a likely wife for their "shared" son.
Humanitarian Roberta induces her father to hire former convict, Bill, as his gardener. When she leaves on vacation, Bill steals her jewelry and eventually sells a brooch to her boyfriend, Richard, who unknowingly gives it to her as a present.
Society girl Eva Ricardo is sent to a seaside New England village to live with her maiden aunt by her father after he loses all his money in speculation. There she falls in love..
Louie, the janitor of a large New York building, leaves New York for a small town to try to work out his formula for the "manufacturing of gold from baser metals."
Young Doris Kane suspects that her fiance, Paul Evans, doesn't love her anymore. She finds out that he is now infatuated with a "vamp", Jeanne DuPre. Paul's father is appalled at his son's behavior, and devises a plan to break up the romance between his son and the vamp by making her fall for him and exposing her perfidy to his son.
A small-town girl returns home from schooling in the East to find that her father's small store and indeed the whole town are in danger of being eliminated by a ruthless land developer. The developer has a son who falls for the young girl, and together they try to come up with a plan to save her father's store and the town.
In Southern California lived Jose de Cabrillo on an estate which he had inherited from his ancestors, who obtained the land from the King of Spain. The scene is laid in the year 1840, "Before the Gringo came." A young American, Sam Blythe. who wishes to settle in California, notices in riding by the gate of the ranch, that it is offered for sale. He says he will buy it if the olive industry is what he desires. Mercedes, the daughter of Jose, is incensed at the thought of her father's selling the ranch, and especially so when she thinks of an American as a possible owner.
Iris Lee is reared in the small town of Dalton by her deceased mother's friend, Martha Kane, and when she reaches adulthood, Martha's son Jim falls in love with her. When Iris fails to return his affections, Mrs. Kane treats her so coldly that Iris decides to leave the stuffy little village for the metropolis. On her journey, she accepts a ride with Jack Andrews, but after he attempts to kiss her, she leaps from the car and walks the rest of the way. While singing in the choir of a large metropolitan church, she is discovered by Jack's wealthy father Peter, who recommends her as a soloist. Light opera star Helen Manning, who has helped Iris to cultivate her voice, quarrels with her theatrical manager, and Iris is offered her position.
