Lord Dawlish is made the heir of an eccentric English millionaire, who cuts off a nephew and niece, living in America. Dawlish is engaged to Claire Edmont, an actress. Dawlish offers half his inheritance to the niece, and when she refuses to accept he goes to America to persuade her.

Marjorie Pope, who is engaged to Magnet, a wealthy suitor whom she does not love, elopes with Trafford, an inventor, after his airplane crashes on the grounds of her parents' rural home. Soon, however, Marjorie, irked by his dedication and idealism, persuades Trafford to market his wonderful invention, but her extravagance leads her into an affair with Sir Roderick. Trafford turns her out of their African home, but she returns to nurse him back to health when he is injured by a lion.

Two chorus girls at the Pleasure Garden Theatre follow different paths in love and fortune.

At a reception for Mr. and Mrs. Vance Leighton, three men are discussing the effects of heredity in shaping the careers of children. To prove his contention that the theory of heredity is often demonstrated to be false, John Strong, a secret service agent, tells a true story: Two orphan sisters are adopted, one by society leaders, the other by a couple of crooks. The latter, known as "The Angel," becomes an expert pickpocket, while the other, Evelyn, becomes a reigning belle.

Grizel is the daughter of the Painted Lady, who believes that her lover will one day return. Grizel is ostracized by the other children of the town. Tommy and his sister come to the town. Tommy is friendly, but Elspeth keeps her distance. When the Painted Lady dies, Dr. Gemmell makes Grizel his housekeeper. Time passes and after the doctor dies, Grizel, who is now twenty-one years old, loves Tommy, who is an author in London. Tommy visits the town but cannot decide whether he loves Grizel. Grizel knows that Tommy does not love her, and after he returns to London her unhappiness leads to insanity. Tommy returns and marries Grizel, although he believes that she will hate him when she gets better. After two years under Tommy's care, she regains her sanity. After Tommy lets her know that he cared for her out of his love for her; not for pity, Grizel is happy.

Writer James Langham and his wealthy wife, Claudia, quarrel and are divorced. Claudia moves into a posh hotel and renews her acquaintance with Alphonse Marsac, an old European friend with an eye on her fortune. Alone in the family mansion, James goes to an agency and rents a "wife" to be his daytime companion and housekeeper.

Explorers to the South Pole in an airship Zeppelin crash in the frozen Antarctic and must struggle for survival in the land of eternal snow and ice.

Attracted by his wealth, avaricious Germaine marries D'Artois, then leaves him for a more sophisticated man. D'Artois retaliates by moving to the city and learning the proper social graces. His new life style proves to be too expensive for him, and at the end he is left with nothing but one suit of evening clothes and his now contrite wife.

A woman secretly sells her ancestral home in order to fund her sweetheart's new invention, a videophone, and then marries him when his fortune is made, only to be betrayed by his affair with her best friend.

During a carnival in Venice, Horace Pierpont, a wealthy American (Lewis Stone), falls in love with Fay Kennion (Virginia Valli). Their romance is derailed when she goes over to his apartment and finds the vampy Fifi (Nita Naldi) there. Fay goes down to Algiers, where she marries a former sweetheart, Dr. Alan Mortimer (Edward Earle).

Harry Leon Wilson has written nothing more diverting than this story of the irreproachable English valet who is lost in a poker game to a rough-and-ready westerner and taken to Red Gap ultimately to become its social mentor and chief caterer, and there is sheer delight in the story of how the Earl, brought over to save his younger brother from the vampirish clutches of Klondike Kate, makes the lady his Countess and once more stands Red Gap upon its somewhat dizzy head.

Skinner is too timid to ask his boss for a salary increase, but also too timid to tell his wife he has not gotten it. He pretends to have received the raise and buys a new suit as proof. The stylish suit gives him confidence, soon he has been transformed into the dynamic and successful man he had pretended to be.

Finding himself broke and out of a job in Paris, American William Ruggles joins the Turkish army and is sent to fight in its war in the Balkans. During a particularly hard-fought battle, he rescues a wounded Turkish soldier. Before he dies the Turk, out of gratitude, leaves William his fortune - but with the proviso that he take care of the Turk's three beautiful young wards.

An American banker goes to a small Balkan country looking to invest his bank's money and shore up the country's weak economy in order to maximize the return on their investment. Towards that end he befriends the country's king and they come up with a scheme to get the Crown Prince married, a prospect not particularly appealing to the Crown Prince--until he sees the beautiful cabaret dancer the pair has picked for him to marry.

Millie Stope lives with her grandfather on a remote island. Man-child Nicholas, a fugitive from justice, also lives there and is terrorizing them - and he's interested in Millie. One day widower John Woolfolk, sailing on his yacht, happens upon the island. Soon he and Millie fall in love. Will jealous Nicholas stand for this?

(survived only 10 minutes) As young men, the squire (Marshall) and the village blacksmith (Walling) are in love with the same woman (Boardman), whom the blacksmith marries. This angers the squire. Years later, the squire's son Anson (Yearsley) dares the blacksmith's son Johnnie (Hackathorne) to climb a tree, from which he falls and is crippled. As adults, Anson and the blacksmith's daughter Alice (Valli) fall in love, which angers the blacksmith, who chastises his daughter. The blacksmith's other son Bill (Butler) returns from college and is injured in a train accident. Anson steals $480 from a church fund which is currently in Alice's possession. Alice is struck by lightning. The blacksmith take Anson and the squire to church where they both repent.

A Senator, accused of bribery on circumstantial evidence and sent to prison, decides to commit suicide so that his daughter will feel free to marry the son of a judge. A story told through the eyes of ten people, all familiar with the victim and all with varying versions.

Sara Langford, an American girl in Paris, is courted by Count Desanges, who loves her but is considerably older; Thomas Carlton, who is married but is out for conquest; and Julian Greer, her true love. In rescuing Greer from the sea, the count is permanently paralyzed but manages to shoot Carlton when he attacks Sara. Ultimately, the true lovers are reunited.

When Patricia "Patty" Hudson, a struggling New York writer becomes ill, her doctor, advising a restful occupation, arranges for her to be the private secretary to the aged James Winthrop, Sr. The closeness of their resulting relationship disturbs Winthrop's relatives, Mrs. Harrison Tyler and her daughter Sally, who hope to inherit his fortune.

Directed by Erle C. Kenton. With Virginia Valli, Ian Keith, Harry Myers, Kenneth Thomson.