The Best People

About an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians, the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from the present day Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island - parts of an area also known as Acadia.

A traveling theatrical troupe is stranded in a small town, and the leading ingenue, Polly, returns to her New York City hometown broke. She and her friend Bunny, desperate for a job, convince the Hawkers, a "nouveau riche" family from Kansas, that they are French and an experienced maid-and-butler team. Young Zeke Hawker is smitten with Polly, but Polly is attracted to their neighbor, a famous actor named MacGillicuddy. One night at a swanky party given by Mrs. Hawker, her jewels wind up stolen, and Polly is suspected of it. Complications ensue until Polly discovers who the real thieves are.

A young East Side Jewish reporter gets into a sticky situation when she finds that her new beau is indicting a banker she owes money to.

Barbara Rand is blinded when she leaps through a window to escape an assailant. Her sister, Natalie, reluctantly abandons her fiancé, Ned Gardiner, and marries Oliver Landis, who can provide the money needed for Barbara's operation. Unaware that Oliver was Barbara's attacker, Natalie blames his business partner, Howard Pollard, who was with Barbara on the night she was injured. Natalie holds Howard at gunpoint, but when her husband arrives, he promises to deal with the villain making sure Howard falls to his death. Upon Barbara’s release from the hospital, Oliver tries to blind her once. Natalie threatens him with a pistol, but Oliver wrests it away from her. He then realizes that he can no longer hide his guilt from Natalie or the police and shoots himself. Barbara has been avenged, and Natalie is free to marry Ned.

Uncle Tom and Eliza's child are sold to Haley, a slave dealer. When Eliza learns that her son is to be taken from her, she steals the boy and runs away.

While crossing the Atlantic, Jim White, an American tourist, is attracted by a charming young widow. He succeeds in making the lady's acquaintance through her four-year-old son and thereafter he becomes a persistent suitor and shadow. It happens that Luxor, Egypt, is the destination of both parties and when they arrive at that point Jim determines to win the widow without further delay. She does not encourage his suit and he becomes desperate. Jim hits upon a subterfuge and engages an Egyptian to help him out. However, the best laid plans often miscarry, and when the widow learns of the plot she prepares one of her own. Jim meets with a decided surprise and the little son is the means of bringing about a mutual understanding.

A pickpocket falls in love with a newspaperman. When he is sent off to war and she disguises herself as a boy, joins a gang and sets out to save him.

U. S. Cavalry Lieutenant Ranson belittles the exploits of a bandit known as "The Red Rider," and boasts to his fellow officers that he could hold up a stagecoach with a pair of scissors. And rides out and does so. But the next day, the postmaster, returning from a neighboring town, is also held up and his bodyguard is killed. Ranson is arrested on suspicion and placed on trial. But at the trial suspicion point to Cahill, post trader, and father of Ranson's sweetheart, Mary. In order to save him, Ranson pleads guilty but, in return and knowing that his daughter loves Ranson, Cahill admits he is "The Red Rider." Meanwhile, the real "Red Rider" is still at large.

Robert Kincairn, the dissolute son of a British colonel, is gallant enough to take the blame for a robbery perpetrated by his fiancee Enid. Thrown out of his home, he changes his name and joins the army.

Ayub Kashif becomes embittered toward his wife, Fatima, because their union has been childless. He eventually determines to divorce Fatima and free her slave, whom he then will wed. Fatima, who still loves her husband, lives a life of sorrow, praying that her husband's love will return to her.

1916 American silent film.

Barbanas Barty inherits some money, sets off to London, meets and falls in love with Lady Cleone Meredith, and this does not set well with Sir Mortiner Carnaby, who has eyes on the fair lady himself. Barnaby becomes friend with Viscount Devehon, buys a horse from him and enters it in the big steeplechase. Sir Mortimer takes steps to rid society of the presence of this non-gentleman.

Captain Jasper, a Union officer, is sent on a secret service mission to the Confederate headquarters. Safe through the lines Captain Jasper, disguised as a Commissary Supply Agent, meets old friends who are Northern sympathizers. Visiting Confederate headquarters, information is supplied him by an ally. Suspicion is eventually aroused against the Captain and he is arrested. Pamela, a Southern girl with Northern sympathies, decides to aid the Captain's escape.

An Irish girl comes to America disguised as a boy to claim a fortune left to her brother who has died.

The opening scene of our story shows a Union powder wagon making its way down the road convoyed by a company of mounted Union soldiers. The route of this wagon is reported to Confederate headquarters by one of its spies. Nan, a girl frequently employed by the department of the Confederate army, is called to headquarters and instructed to secure the destruction of the enemy's ammunition train just reported. Nan is fitted out with a Union uniform, mounted on a fast horse and sent on her journey, previously provided with a forged order supposedly signed by a Union general which authorizes her to pass through the lines.

The Duke of Chartres is in love with Princess Henriette, but she seemingly wants nothing to do with him. Eventually he grows tired of her insults and flees to England when Louis XV insists that the two marry. He goes undercover as Monsieur Beaucaire, the barber of the French Ambassador, and finds that he enjoys the freedom of a commoner’s life. After catching the Duke of Winterset cheating at cards, he forces him to introduce him as a nobleman to Lady Mary, with whom he has become infatuated. When Lady Mary is led to believe that the Duke of Chartres is merely a barber she loses interest in him. She eventually learns that he is a nobleman after all and tries to win him back, but the Duke of Chartres opts to return to France and Princess Henriette who now returns his affection.