1915
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.
1918
Tom Brown shows up at Harvard, confident and a bit arrogant. He becomes a rival of Bob McAndrew, not only in football and rowing crew, but also for the affections of Mary Abbott, a professor's daughter.
1919
Having followed the road of romance through many countries, Lord Quex finally falls in love with Muriel Eden. After resisting Lord Quex because of his reputation, Muriel finally capitulates to his charms and agrees to marry him. In her heart, however, Muriel still treasures an affection for Caption Bastling, a fortune hunting womanizer, and when Muriel is told of Lord Quex's continuing contact with the Duchess of Dowager, a situation brought about through the scheming of the Duchess, Muriel turns to Bastling and agrees to meet him at her friend Sophie Fullgarney's manicurist shop.
1916
Colorado lawyer Bill Brent, falsely accused and imprisoned for a murder committed by his partner, escapes to Canada with his cellmate where they become wealthy in the trapping business. When out of a trapping expedition the pair rescue Nita, the only survivor of a boating accident. In time Bill and she fall in love and marry then Bill makes the unwise decision to try to return to see his elderly mother.
Madame Gerve is a famous opera singer at the prime donna at the Opera Comique in Paris. When the French Prime Minister proposes marriage, however, she refuses and then sings at a benefit for war orphans. It's there that she encounters two men from her past--Karl Wertz, the German ambassador to France whom she knew during the war when he was a German officer and his unit occupied her village, and Phillippe Sardonia, a Frenchman who is her former lover. Both men try to rekindle their past relationships with her, but she has a secret that she doesn't want either man to know about. A lost film.
1926
Firemen Tom and Joe each loves the other's sister, although neither is able to support a wife. Tom's troubles are compounded by a rival for his sweetheart's hand. In a drawn out fight he bests the rival, who steals the revenue from the firemen's ball (of which Tom is treasurer) and hides the money in the storage warehouse in which Tom's sister works as a stenographer. While Tom, Joe, and their sweethearts search for the money, the villain also returns for his loot, and, in his haste, he sets the building afire--trapping the foursome behind a steel door. Their calls for help reach the street, an alarm is turned in, firemen come to the rescue, and the money is found in a blazing desk.
During his daily duties, Casey the Cop rescues a woman who's soon his sweetheart. Later, she learns from her banker uncle that her inheritance has been stolen, and he's accusing Casey's own cashier brother. Casey is on the case.
1917
After divorcing her husband Kent, actress Anne Wetherall returns to the stage. Upon receiving a plea for help from childhood chum Nell Jerrold begging Anne to save Nell's daughter Betty from marrying Kent, the ex-Mrs. Wetherall decides to journey to the Jerrold's home in the town of Wheaton to investigate.
1921
Penny arrives in the West by aeroplane. She is considered a suspicious character and thrown into jail. Kurt Walters, a ranch foreman and deputy sheriff, discovers that she is the same girl that his friend, Jo Gary, met in Chicago. Gary fell in love with her, but she confessed she was a thief. Since Penny claims she wants to reform, Walters releases her and sends her to live with Mrs. Kingdon. In spite of her teasing and taunts (or perhaps because of them), Walters finds himself falling in love with Penny.
1922
Betty falls in love with Samuel Hayden, who was washed ashore after having survived a shipwreck. The self-acclaimed most religious man in town accuses a kindly man, whom he calls "The Devil," of robbing Samuel. Soon becoming bored with this slander, he attempts to break up the romance between Betty and Samuel, contriving to have her turned out by her stern father. Samuel is later discovered to be an escaped convict. This disclosure results in a series of escapades during which the true character of the village hypocrite and "The Devil" are revealed, showing the former to be vicious and the latter to be generous and benevolent.
1920
Henry Baird, a young newspaperman with a second-hand car but little money, decides to raffle off the car at a county picnic, so that he can take out his sweetheart, Mabel Darrow, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. However, as soon as Henry gets the money, his tailor demands that he pay off his debt. Also, youngsters set the car on fire before he can give to the winner, Joseph Plant, whose wife Evelyn was formerly Henry's sweetheart.
