Hayward Mack

Following her grandfather's death, spirited young Susan Gaskell is placed in the charge of her cousin Martha Brown, the housekeeper for wealthy bachelor Bernard Marshall. Distressed by his brother Ted's involvement with adventuress Eva Thornton, Bernard decides to divert the young man's attention with Susan and hires Henri Delafaire to dress the girl in modern clothing and educate her in deportment and manners.

Naive Eileen Rodney (Dorothy Dalton) is duped by the high-minded talk of Raymond Moreland (William Conklin). But when she discovers that he wants to take her to India without the benefit of a marriage license, she balks and instead weds her guardian, John Harland (Thurston Hall). However, she had written some letters to Moreland, and these come back to haunt her when he tries to use them for blackmail.

Nell Gwyn and King Charles II fall in love after meeting at a fox hunt. Nell soon learns the jealous Duchess of Portsmouth is a spy and conspiring with the Duke of Buckingham to place Charles at the mercy of the King of France. Nell boldly disguises herself as a fashionable young blade and wins the confidence of the Duchess. Now entrusted with the delivery of important documents, she makes sure they go to the King of England rather than the King of France.

Elmer Day and his wife, Eunice, are visiting Gilbert and Maud Stone, and the two husbands, wishing to attend a masquerade, plead business engagements to escape from their wives. But the wives, discovering the invitation, also attend, and matters are complicated by changes and substitutions of costumes and the appearance of Mrs. Day's aunt and uncle. After a police raid there are general explanations and reconciliations at the police court.

When John Harlow loses his sweetheart Jenny Larkin as a result of poverty, he vows never to be broke again and leaves town. He moves to the city, and several years later, after pinching his pennies, he becomes financially successful. One night, while at a dance hall, he runs into Jenny who is now employed as a dance hall hostess. Jenny decides to fleece John and sets him up with Laura, one of her colleagues. Laura is innocent of the scheme, and she and John fall in love. Jenny becomes jealous and attempts to reclaim John by telling him that Laura is having an affair with Richard Crane. John believes her until he discovers that Crane has just married Laura's mother. He proposes to Laura, and she accepts on the condition that he relinquish his spendthrift ways.

Penniless aristocrat Yvonne Dupré ekes out a living selling her paintings to a crooked dealer, Leon Naisson, who passes them off as other more famous artists. Leon confides to his unscrupulous model Romildo, that he is attracted to Yvonne. Romildo drugs his lover, fiery Apache dancer Juliette who closely resembles Yvonne, then tries to extort money from Leon to have his way with her. Leon discovers the duplicity but convinces the artist's sweetheart, Dick Gray, that she has been unfaithful. As police close in on Leon, he frames Yvonne by planting forged paintings in her studio. Following Yvonne's arrest, Juliette is informed by her foster sister that she was stolen by gypsies as a child and is actually Yvonne's twin sister. Juliette exposes Leon's operation to the police, reuniting Yvonne and Dick.

Living up to a reputation for disregarding rules, author Sebastian Maure, having fallen in love with Ghirlaine Bellamy, kidnaps her to get her away from her fiancé, Vincent Pamfort. Sebastian takes Ghirlaine to a small island where, because of the force of his personality, he is treated almost as a god by the natives. During her captivity, Ghirlaine exerts a strong influence on Sebastian, and he vows to make himself into a better man.

Mary Thorne is the quarter-breed daughter of prospector Marshall Thorne. She has just returned from college and when a pair of hunters, Mark Hamilton and Chester Martin, come along, she decides it would be fun to dress in native garb and fool them. Both men find themselves attracted to her, even though Indians were taboo for whites in the racist days of the 1910s.

At the death of Count de Beaulieu, his daughter Jeanne learns that her father had been the arch-criminal known as The Phantom. The only other person who knew her father's identity was his lieutenant, Franz Leroux, who now demands that Jeanne marry him in return for his silence.

Wealthy stockbroker Lemuel Morewood wants his sons, Billy and Tom, to learn the business and marry Emily Donelson and Frances Berkeley, respectively. Billy, however, is infatuated with Mrs. Bruce Guilford, a leader of the "smart set," while Tom loves boxing. At a dinner for which Lemuel hires Bessie Brayton, an orphan from the West, to entertain, Lemuel responds to Bessie's taunts about being old-fashioned by winning a lot of money gambling with Major Bellamy Didsworth, who tries to swindle Bessie, and leaves with her to spend it.

When Mrs. Harrison arrives in Harborsport for her vacation, she announces her plan to marry Gladsome, her daughter, to Vincent Bradshaw, the son of her financial advisor James Bradshaw. To keep Gladsome from socializing with the local fishermen, James drives them from his property, but they organize under her and force their way back. Arrested for rabble-rousing, Gladsome is bailed out of jail by James and later meets "Alphabet" Carter, a vacationing financial wizard, for whom she has an immediate attraction.

In pre-Civil War days, a woman dies in childbirth. Her sister, believing the child to be illegitimate, leaves the baby in the care of one of her sister's slaves.

While relaxing in his cabin one stormy night, John Winton, a rising young businessman who has successfully resisted the institution of marriage, is interrupted by cries for help. Opening his door, he finds a soaking wet, pretty girl, who pleads with him to come to her aid.

James Gordon, Sr., owner of the Gordon syndicate, dispatches his roughneck son Jimmy to investigate why production has fallen off in his opal mine on an island off the coast of lower California. After an argument with his fiancée, socialite Lucy Andrews, Jimmy leaves for the island where he is met by Juan, McCool's servant who, along with Jasper Sneedham, has been cheating the company. On the launch, Juan tries to eliminate Jimmy by hitting him over the head, but the lad escapes and swims to shore where he is rescued by Sneedham's stepdaughter Nadine. Nadine takes Jimmy to the hut of mine foreman Fred Haimer, the only honest man on the island.

Unconventional Olive Barton shocks her aunt when she stages a boxing match during a tea for the new minister. When Olive's father is called West to attend to some mining interests, Olive sneaks into his private car and accompanies him. Arriving in the West, they meet Leonard Hewitt, a young mining engineer, and his partner "Highball" Hazelitt. Even though Olive mistakes them for bandits, she falls in love with Leonard. Olive turns the saloon into a successful gymnasium, manages to foil a conspiracy against her father's mine, and wins the love of Leonard.

Richard Chester, a bachelor who has lost everything in a poker game, blunders into the apartment of Nora Ellis, who has just inherited a fortune under the stipulation that she marry immediately. Assuming the name Chester Dick, Richard marries Nora and leaves. Unaware of this marriage of convenience, Charles Renalls, Nora's suitor, later assumes that her wealth is the only impediment to their union and conspires to ruin her on the market. Upon learning of his scheme, Richard ruins Charles. Nora falls in love with Richard, not recognizing her benefactor as her husband of an evening. Hoping to spoil Richard's chances with Nora, Charles tells her that Richard is already married and that he carries his wife's picture in his pocket. To her surprise and delight, Nora discovers that the incriminating picture is her own photograph and that Richard is already her husband.

James Fairfax, editor of the scandalous Morning Argus, stops at nothing for a juicy story, much to the disdain of his staff—especially reporter Dolly Clare.

Nina, engaged to a French captain, and Nancy, engaged to a doctor who runs an insane asylum on an island, are friends. When the doctor catches Nancy kissing the captain, known for kisses with a "heavenly kick," he breaks the engagement. In an effort to win back the doctor for Nancy, Nina pretends to be a bit "off" and becomes an inmate of the sanitarium.

William Newman, a notorious shyster lawyer, in return for a cut of the jewels, agrees to take the case of Morris, a man convicted of stealing diamonds. After gaining possession of the gems, Newman appropriates all of them and then refuses to carry out his share of the deal. Subsequently, Newman, who is attracted to Georgianna, a maid at his boardinghouse, frames the girl on charges of theft and then arranges for her freedom, thus appearing to be her savior.

Maryland Warren is kidnapped by a group of Yaqui Indians, and taken across the border to Mexico. In rescuing her, Robert Carr proves both his bravery and his loyalty to the United States.

Carillo and his wife Selma are devoted to each other. As a sculptor, Carillo has achieved the qualities of honor and love until the Devil seeks to overturn these accomplishments by sending his imps Lust, Drink and Self Pity to the artist's home. Carillo succumbs to lust and sells his honor to the Devil.

Montgomery Seaton, one of the idle rich, pays more attention to his friends' business than to his marital situation.

To avenge her sister's disgrace and death, Audrey Graham leaves her theatrical engagements in New York, and in one of the caravans of the early '70's seeks Hell's Paradise, a mining camp to which Steele, the betrayer, has gone. The caravan nearly perishes in Death Valley, and Audrey, disguised as a child, goes to seek relief from a band of outlaws. Her subterfuge is perceived and she is given her liberty only on condition that she bring Steele to the bandit, who married a woman Steele deceived. Audrey keeps her word but turns aside the happiness within her grasp for the sake of the other woman.