In early 19th century England, ambitious and ruthless orphan Rebecca Sharp advances from the position of governess to the heights of British society.

Evelyn and her boyfriend William Bard are members of a small Shaker community. They rock the community one day when they announce that they want to get married and have children, in direct opposition to the Shaker prohibition against marriage and procreating. The Shakers drive the couple out of town, but before she leaves Evelyn gives birth to a daughter, Eve. Shortly afterward Evelyn dies, and the Shakers inform William that their daughter Eve has died also. William leaves town, but vows to take his revenge on the Shakers, whom he blames for the loss of his family.

Tangletop, is the daughter of the town drunk with her tattered clothes and unkempt hair has been made a social outcast. As a result, she seems to be the perfect actress for the role that Emmett Dwight has developed in order to deceive his wealthy ward, Lowell Van Orden, who, during his blindness, fell in love with Mollie Dean. Since Emmett wants his daughter Madeline to marry Lowell, he tells his ward, after his eyesight has been restored, that Tangletop, who gladly goes along with the plan, is Mollie. As Emmett hoped, his ward's ardor starts to cool, but then, after Tangletop comes under the influence of the Reverend Clyde Harmon, she confesses everything to Lowell. As soon as she finishes, Lowell seeks out the real Mollie and marries her, after which Tangletop marries Clyde.

Robert Ffolliott is a young Irish lad who is done out of his land and sent off to a penal colony in Australia following false accusations by the greedy Kinchella. Conn the Shaughraun comes to his rescue, helps him to escape from the prison ship and return to Ireland where he is united with his sweetheart.

George Crosby, a New York lawyer, with a passion for painting, wearied of his legal duties, sails for Brittany, where he meets Renée Kerouac, a fisher-maiden, and sketches her as a Corregan, a fairy who destroys the men who refuse her love. Hoel Kalloc, her betrothed, becomes jealous, and George marries her, after saving her from Hoel's brutality.

Young Edyth Vail, believes her fiancé Allen Morris may have committed a murder, asking Ashton Kirk to investigate the crime. The fiancé admits he went to the David Hume's home to retrieve plans for a submarine, invented by his scientist father and stolen by the murdered man, but Allen claims he left the home before retrieving the plans. Kirk uses a train conductor's punch ticket to discover the identity of the murderers, one of whom is mute, and sets a trap to apprehend the suspects.

The film opens in Ireland, as a dying Patrick McNairne tells his daughter Jerry to go to New York and look up Norton Burbeck, a wealthy young man whose life Patrick had saved some time earlier (the surviving print, largely complete, lacks the second page insert of a letter explaining the full background). The affable Burbeck is due to inherit his uncle’s fortune provided he’s married by November; if not, the inheritance will go to his cousin Howard Curtis. An adventuress, Beatrice Gaden, and her husband Dick are in cahoots with Curtis: Beatrice pretends to be single in order to string Norton along up to the November date, at which time Curtis will come into the money and give a share to his unscrupulous partners.

Ashton Kirk is a wealthy and scholarly young man who solves mysteries that have the police puzzled. Stella Morse asks Kirk to find out who is threatening her uncle, Dr. Morse. Morse has a copy of a secret treaty between Russia and the United States that was made during the Russo-Japanese War. When the Doctor is murdered Kirk takes on the case. Japanese spies have been trying to purloin the treaty to ruin relations between its country and America. Kirk manages to get the treaty himself and prevents a war from breaking out.

Gambler wrecks train in order to kill racehorse.