A Woman's Business

Broadway star Mona Mainard retires from the stage for marriage to rising attorney John Norton and watches his career climb. Over time she becomes concerned with his at times unscrupulous ways of getting convictions. When her brother is accused of murder Norton refuses to give up the case despite being aware of his innocence because a victory could land him the governorship. Mona takes extreme steps to bring him to his senses and exonerate her brother.

France is being swamped by counterfeit bills that are being made by a ring in the US. A beautiful female member of the French gang circulating the bills negotiates a deal with the counterfeiters' ringleader in the US, and in so doing falls in love with a returning US soldier who has his own reasons for trying to destroy the gang.

Old Silas Blackburn, a wealthy recluse, lives alone with his butler and his ward Katherine. One night, Katherine discovers Silas murdered in the room where three generations of Blackburns have mysteriously died. Silas' grandson Robert, whom Katherine loves, comes to visit the next day, suffering from amnesia.

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).

Eileen O'Hara lives as a member of a cult in a remote retreat in the Adirondacks with her father, an embittered man since his wife's infidelity years earlier. Because his wife was untrue, O'Hara is determined that his daughter, Eileen, shall never marry. Peyster Sproul was the man who had the affair Mrs. O'Hara's infidelity, and when he shows up as president of the Sagamore Club and attempts to buy O'Hara's land, the two men come to blows.

One day Coventry Petmore leaves his wife and child to go out in the world and fight the social evils of divorce and loveless marriage. Circumstances lead him to the home of Judge Mitchell, where the judge's son, a minister, and his wife Beatrice reside. The minister does not believe in expressing affection to his wife, and Beatrice becomes enamored of her chauffeur Larry Price.

Olive Muir, a haughty society girl, objects when Alice Prentice, a girl of lower station, comes to visit her family. After Alice's drunken father comes to visit the Muir home, Olive learns to her horror that she is adopted and that Prentice is her real father.

In the Roman Coliseum, at the beginning of the Christian era, the Emperor Turnerius, accompanied by his favorite, Nerissa, watches the bestial games in the arena. His son Gordian is asked by Grimaldo the magician to save the life of a Christian girl about to be thrown to the lions. He refuses, whereupon Grimaldo prophesies the fate of the Empire by telling the prince a story of the future: Two thousand years hence, in New York, a parallel situation takes place in which a young man is led to put a stop to the base plans of his father. The prince is so deeply affected by the injustice of the story that he plunges into the arena to save the girl, causing the emperor to die in a fit of rage, thus precipitating the coronation of his son as the new emperor.

The story of two young sisters, one a somewhat demure musician who is in love with a scoundrel who's no good for her, and the other a wild, free spirit who is the object of a shy young carpenter's affections.

Easterner Alva Leigh arrives in the mining town of Magnet just after her fiancé, Donald Jaffray, has been murdered. Because Alva has sworn vengeance, "Sudden" Duncan, the real murderer, accuses Donald's partner, Dick Randall, of the crime. Knowing that Dick is planning a journey across the desert, Duncan fills his canteen with poison, but Alva, who also is determined to kill Dick, drills a hole in the canteen so that the water will drain out. After Dick's departure, Alva learns from "Tiger Lil'," who is jealous of Duncan's attention to the Eastern newcomer, that it was Duncan who killed Donald. Frantic, Alva immediately mounts a horse and rides into the desert to save the man she now recognizes as her true love. Tiger Lil' shoots Duncan in a dance hall quarrel, and Alva marries Dick.

William Baldwin, ruined in business by his partner, John Blaisdell, implores Blaisdell's aid, and receives in answer a five-dollar bill across the face of which is written, "Spend this for a gun and use it on yourself."

Annie Leigh, a factory worker who marries Earle Courtney, the son of a millionaire. However, Earle's father, Major James Courtney, is determined to see his son marry a wealthy socialite, Ethel Ainsworth. To achieve this, the Major orchestrates a cruel scheme:

Rich, spoiled social butterfly Pamela Sayre lives the good life with her two maiden aunts. Bertie Holden, the somewhat slacker son of a wealthy couple, is in love with Pamela, who seems to prefer muscular, daredevil-type men, which Bertie definitely isn't. Pamela flirts with the wealthy but much older Charles Van Gordon in order to make Bertie jealous, but her plan seems to backfire.

Clover Ames's life consists only of the drudge work that she performs at her Aunt Sarah's boardinghouse. No longer able to withstand her aunt's abuse, Clover runs away and obtains a job as a maid to a wealthy woman. Willed $7,000 by Pierre Dubois, a boarder at her aunt's house, Clover, inspired by a novel that she has read, poses as a duchess at a fashionable winter resort. There she meets and falls in love with Walter Gray, who is also traveling incognito as a ribbon clerk. When Clover's money runs out, her trick is discovered and she vanishes. Obtaining employment in Gray's department store, Clover learns that her ribbon clerk is actually the owner's son, who rushes her to the wedding bureau.

Neil Dacey falls in with loves Peggy Desmond. Terence O'Malley, nephew of Squire O'Malley, is anxious to win Peggy. Terence and his uncle have a quarrel because Terence cannot win Peggy, and the squire is killed. Terence does the killing with Neil's gun, so Neil is held for the murder. Peggy, to save her fiance, dresses as the will-o'-the-wisp.