After a brief view of Edgar Allan Poe's family background, his grandfather, David Poe, Sr., an Irish immigrant to America, and his father, David Poe, Jr., the poet's life is depicted from the death of his mother and his subsequent adoption by John Allan, to his own tortured death in 1849. Expelled from the University of Virginia for incurring too many debts, Poe nonetheless courts and marries Virginia Clemm but is disowned by his foster father. While residing in Fordham, New York, Poe tries to earn a living as a writer but meets with little financial success. Overwhelmed by their impoverished state, Virginia dies and Poe sinks into a profound depression. Always a victim of alcohol and subject to hallucinations, Poe first imagines that his neighbor, Helen Whitman, is Virginia, then plunges himself into an elaborate delusion in which his wife's spirit, various other spectres and a raven finally drive him to his own death.

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No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

Wealthy miner, Ben Cameron's son, Bruce, becomes the criminal "The Shadow" after being disinherited for spendthrift ways and theft. "The Shadow" attempts to extort money from Mary, Cameron's former love who is married to a struggling bookkeeper. Eventually he is shot and killed by his father, Ben, during a confrontation over the extortion attempt. In the end, Cameron collapses in grief, while Mary and her husband remain unaware of the dramatic events.

Driven from home because of his father’s temper, 20-year-old Frank Bradbury struggles to control his own strong emotions. When a schoolmate harasses his sweetheart, Rose Claybourne Frank attacks him and is expelled from university. After becoming engaged to Rose they return to his home, seeking his father's consent for their engagement. Their mothers are hopeful for reconciliation, but Frank’s father is enraged. Frank arrives while the father is attacking his mother and Frank kills him with a paper weight. Brought to trial he is acquitted on the grounds of justifiable homicide and Rose and he marry.

A physician advises Helen Blair to seek a different climate. She is without money. Philip Cobb, her daughter's sweetheart, tells them his employer, Richard Standing, has refused him an increase. Thus Mrs. Blair discovers the whereabouts of Standing, whom she rejected years before to marry Blair. Standing treats her savagely when she appeals to him. His son, John, overhears the conversation and, seeing the girl, forces them to take the necessary funds to save the mother. The father discovers his love affair and sends him to Honolulu. The jealous Cobb gets a letter from a friend there and forges a new note telling that young Standing has become a drunkard. Ailene and Cobb are married. John Standing returns after months and he and Ailene learn of the deception. Cobb repents his deceit and drowns himself.

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No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

A physician is dragged down to the depths by the drug habit, losing position and wealth. After pawning every available possession except a revolver to satisfy his craving for the drug, he returns to his cheap lodging house to end his life. Half stupefied, he gets into the wrong room, where he finds a woman and daughter almost starved. He takes his revolver and pawns it to buy food for them. His own act of kindness gives him a new view of life and he struggles to break his habit. Many times he almost falls again, but is aided by a nurse whom he had known years before. Finally he throws off the yoke altogether and wins back to manhood and the love of a woman.

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No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

Reverend Darwin Kirby falls in love with a woman described as fond of "all the gaieties of life". She refuses to marry him, and ultimately, the Reverend abandons his ministry for the sake of his love for her.

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John Heppell, a wealthy young man about town, falls in love with Diana Laska, a noted actress, and marries her. After their child is born he tires of her and goes back to his old way of living. Infuriated at his neglect, Diana leaves him and goes abroad with Philip Goodier. He also tires of her in time, and she becomes a notorious character on the continent.