Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

Mary Brenton, daughter of wealthy Anthony Brenton, marries a man her father doesn't approve of, and they become estranged. When she tries to return home, her father refuses to let her in. Her daughter, Angele, disguises herself as a Belgian war refugee and her grandfather--not knowing who she really is--takes her into his house and, eventually, into his heart.

Marcia Grey is wrongly convicted on trumped-up evidence of a German. After serving her term, she rebuilds her life and marries well.

Katherine Trowbridge, a rebellious young orphan, lives with her aunt and uncle, the Curtises, who desire a match between Katherine and Weathersbee but pretend to oppose the union, knowing she will be the more likely to accept it. Accidentally discovering their trickery, she leaves home and determines to marry the first man who will have her.

Country girl Annabel Lee has big dreams of being a famous artist. Her widowed mother encourages her to go to the city so she can study. Annabel works hard, but she sells only one painting. She discovers that a renowned artist is spending the summer at a nearby resort, so she sends him her best work for a critique. A friend recommends that she see him in person, so Annabel pawns a piece of jewelry and heads for the resort. The artist informs her that she doesn't have enough talent to achieve much.

Man-haters Pamela Gordon, Violet and Kate West, each disappointed in love, vow never to marry, and room together with a sign above their door reading "No man shall cross this threshold." When Edgar Holt enters their room to escape an irate husband whose jealousy he mistakenly aroused, he falls in love with Pamela, but she makes him leave through a window across an ironing board over a courtyard. Edgar woos Pamela but he is unsuccessful in breaking down her resolve, even though she privately softens and develops a love for him. To help her, Edgar secretly gets her a position as a confidential secretary with his firm.

Spaulding Nelson moves into an apartment after his uncle has been driven from it by the sounds of screams and whispers. Upon undertaking an investigation, he meets neighbor Barbara Bradford, whose sister Clara is being tormented by the recurring sounds of her dead husband Roldo's voice.

A poverty-stricken Cockney girl rises through incredible adventures to become the wife of a nobleman.

Easygoing Barbara Townsend is never jealous and allows her husband, Richard (Harrison Ford), to come and go as he pleases. Townsend, however, takes her considerate nature as neglect and he believes that Barbara has ceased to love him. Vampy Dorothy Mitchell convinces Townsend that he should seek a divorce, which he does, and Barbara is too proud to object.