Sylvia, a model in the shop of a fashionable dressmaker, is introduced to the Hicks family, which recently has acquired a fortune through iron ore deposits discovered on their farm. Octavia Hicks sees in the cultured but unpretentious Sylvia a good match for her son Henry and invites the young woman to visit the Hicks home. Two other visitors, Frank Hayward and his accomplice Annie, are masquerading as a count and a princess in order to con the country-born millionaires out of their money. The two are introduced to Sylvia, who soon discovers their plots and exposes them. A mysterious foreign gentleman appears and announces that the fashion model is actually the Princess Sylvia of Karalyn, but she renounces her title to marry Henry.

Ilda Barosky, a Jewess whose father was killed by Russian soldiers, is a violin student in love with Alexis Nazimoff, son of the Russian aristocracy. Alexis' father arranges a marriage of convenience between Alexis and Olga Karischeff, the daughter of the ambitious minister of police and attempts to shame Ilda at the betrothal celebration. Defiant, Ilda is whipped before the entire assembly. Alexis rushes in to rescue her and terminates his engagement to Olga. In retaliation, Karischeff sentences both Ilda and Alexis to ten years in Siberia as his last official act. The couple attempt to escape their Siberian captivity, are caught and face a firing squad until Count Nazimoff, who has assumed Karischeff's position as minister of police, arrives with a pardon. The couple return home, and the penitent count finally grants them his blessings.

Julie Lamont is the only white woman in the French-Canadian woods where she lives with her Uncle Henri, a trader who smuggles whiskey to the Indians. Though she has no interest in them she is pursued by brothers Pierre and Jean Dubois, suppliers of Henri's whiskey. Julie flees to the Haunted Rock cave after a fight between the brothers and is discovered there by American engineer Tom King and they fall in love. The brothers pursue and menace the couple but infighting leads to ruin for both and the young couple embark on life together.

Every night, Madge Dow of the Middleport Orphanage, imagines herself in the lighted room in the house across the way, being tucked into bed by a beautiful mother. After Madge and her friend Spotty escape to visit settlement worker Letty Thompson, and Letty encourages them to investigate the house, they find a grumpy, gout-ridden old Major there, still irritated over his daughter's marriage years ago without his consent.

A member of a counterfeiting gang gives a forged note to his daughter. When she spends it on a dress the note ends up in the hands of the secret service, who then bring the entire gang to justice.

Pampered Frederic "Freddy" Pritchard, warned by his father that he must work or be disinherited, learns how to crack safes to help his girlfriend Gloria Nevins, whose villainous uncle holds security for the family jewels, as well as the right to vote on the disposition of the Nevins Motor Works. After Freddy steals the papers with the aid of his valet Smithson, Gloria's uncle locks him in a warehouse to prevent him from attending a crucial stockholders' meeting. Freddy escapes and saves the factory for Mrs. Nevins, who gives him power of proxy. Pritchard, Sr., pleased with his son, consents to Freddy's marriage to Gloria.

Romantic melodrama of musical comedy star Juliette La Monde's thoughtless pursuit of love and pleasure with various men until her ultimate redemption through sacrifice.

Two tortured artists believe by committing suicide their souls will avail themselves on their ill friends and restore them to health. It appears to work but a harlot may prove the undoing of one until a steadfast doctor steps in.

Young marrieds Paul, the Viscount De Sallure, and his bride Florence are in financial straits. Florence’s inheritance is available to her only if she separates from her husband so the pair concoct a scheme to give that appearance. Problems emerage when Paul seems to be taken the ploy to heart with Mlle. Fifi but all turns out well in the end.

Press agent Jack Bartling persuades a local Suffragette leader, Mrs. Eubanks, whose husband is a Senator and soap manufacturer, to hire him for publicity. He falls for her daughter Nell and through various schemes and a bit of subterfuge Jack convinces both parents he’s the right guy for their daughter.

A feisty, independent young woman, Damophilia Illington ("Phil" for short, hence the title), the daughter of a progressive university professor, is devastated by the sudden death of her father. The town's banker, an arrogant stuffed shirt, wants to marry Phil and has himself declared her guardian. Not wanting to marry him, she quickly leaves town and lands a job at a nearby university as an assistant to a professor of Greek literature (an area in which her father trained her) who is bitter and resentful after the breakup of his engagement to a woman who, it turned out, had been lying to him. "Phil", however, is determined to win him over.

Young gypsy girl Mary, is seduced by the immoral Robert Crane and abandoned. She is exiled from the gypsies and, along with her mother Zenda, known as "The Woman in Black," she vows revenge. Meanwhile, Crane blackmails Stella Everett's father into forcing her to marry him, even though she loves Frank Mansfield, Crane's rival for a congressional seat. Frank wins, but Stella still faces the prospect of marriage to Crane until Zenda comes to her with a plan. On their wedding day, after the vows are recited, when Crane lifts the veil from his wife's face, he is shocked to discover, that his new bride is Mary. Now Stella and Frank are free to marry, and Zenda has gained her revenge.

Maida Brown, a rich widow, is being visited by wealthy aircraft manufacturer Louis Letchworth at the Brown family estate in Bayport. The family maid notices the pair's affectionate behavior toward each other and, aghast, reports the incident to Maida's father, the head of the local Purity League. The local citizenry is so outraged by this scandalous behavior that they force Maida to leave town. Meanwhile, Harold Brown, her late husband's brother, is aware that the family estate will revert to him if Maida remarries, so he spies on her in order to prove that she and Louis are married, so Harold can get the family fortune for himself.

Andrew Gibson inherits problems when his father dies and leaves shares of his piano manufacturing business to his workmen. To add to his troubles, Andrew's girl, Nora Gorodna, is being pursued by José Ferra, one of the workmen; and Lila Normand, a society girl, tricks Andrew into proposing.

The Grand Duke Alexis has been happy with his wife, Lola, formerly the queen of the St. Petersburg ballet, and their baby daughter, Vasta. But the lowering cloud that has always hung over them through the refusal of the Russian Court to recognize their marriage breaks when the Duke learns there is an intrigue against his wife's life.

During the American Revolution, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr are both courting beautiful Margaret Moncrieffe. Fast-forward several years and they again find themselves on opposite sides, this time about compensation for the properties of Tories--colonists who sided with the British--during the war. Hamilton falls for Maria Reynolds, who it turns out is secretly the wife of prominent pawnbroker Jacob Clingman, a friend of Burr's. The pair conspire to destroy Hamilton, who is now Secretary of the Treasury and married to the daughter of a prominent army general, by making public several love letters Hamilton had written to Mrs. Reynolds.

Madge Evans, World Film Corp. juvenile star, is sent to her Quaker grandparents, Timothy and Tabitha Mendenhall, when her father and mother go to serve in World War I. After bidding farewell to the World stars, Madge goes to her grandparent's home where she experiences stern discipline.

Heiress Rhoda Canby is badgered by her eccentric relatives Uncle Silas, Aunt Elizabeth, and Cousin Hepzibah. She falls in love with writer Irving Mason, who believes Rhoda to be the heiress' secretary, and courts her as chauffeur "Henry Smith." Accompanied by her African-American nurse Aunt Chloe, Rhoda runs away from home. Irving, meanwhile, is abducted. Upon reading of the supposed suicide of Irving Mason, Rhoda assumes the role of widow and visits his hometown. There she is befriended by Irving's uncles and goes to work in the family's general store. Irving escapes his captors and surreptitiously returns home, but is surprised to find himself presumed dead and Rhoda his widow. When the family store catches fire and Irving saves Rhoda, their true identities are revealed, after which they are married.

Hope Dugan rescues young Jim McTavish from a beating at the hands of his cruel father, who then is himself beaten in a fight with Hope's father. Seeking revenge, Red kills Dugan and is hanged, leaving Jim and Hope orphaned. They are adopted by two old miners, Sam Hawks and Bill Higgins, who later sell their mine to send Hope to school but are robbed of the money by Brandt, who has offered to buy the claim. Jim learns of Brandt's treachery and recovers the money in a holdup but is arrested. Hope returns to find that Sam has died, and she believes that Jim is dead too until Bill tells her he is being framed for robbery. She and Bill hold up the stagecoach and rescue Jim, pretending to shoot him. United and free again, Hope and Jim face a happy life together.

An idealistic sea captain, Dick Carson (Conway Tearle), is wounded by revenue officers while smuggling arms to a South American country. He finds aid and refuge at the home of Dr. Jordan (J. Barney Sherry) whose young wife, Dorothy (Doris Kenyon), is being courted by Andrews (Crauford Kent), who kills the doctor in a quarrel. To avoid the revenue officers, Carson takes them aboard his ship and sets sail for the Far East. He and Dorothy fall in love but, first, he must deal with a mutiny on his ship.