Edwin B. Tilton

John Carleton is living a carefree jazz lifestyle, much to the annoyance of his father. When he can take it no longer, Carleton senior sends John to his ranch in the West, hoping that the experience will make a man of him. John's ability to ride a bucking bronco wins the friendship of the cowhands, but trouble's a-brewin' when he falls in love with Beryl King.

Jack Grant agrees to drive in the big race in order to save his brother Carl from being charged with embezzlement.

Wastrel son of a railroad magnate, Jack's father becomes frustrated with his son's wild ways. To prove himself, Jack goes to work in the railroad yard as a laborer. An escaped convict, Silent Bill Brachley, steals Jack's car, and the chase leads to a meeting between Jack, the engineer of the Midnight Express, and the engineer's pretty daughter, Mary. As he is led back to jail, Brachley swears revenge.

Corinna Endicott attends a wild party with her pal Spike Blaine and there becomes reacquainted with Rhodes Winston, an English writer whom she nursed in Europe. They spend more time together, and eventually they become engaged. Then Mitch Hardy, a married cad, entices Corinna to a roadhouse, which is raided by police while he is forcing his attentions on her. The newspapers ruin Corinna's reputation, Rhodes breaks their engagement, and Corinna refuses Spike's offer of marriage, fearing that he feels only pity for her. Corinna resolves to make up for her mistakes, however, and with Spike she starts a fresh air farm for slum children. Although Rhodes eventually reappears and insists that he needs Corinna for his inspiration, she refuses him in favor of Spike.

Penniless inventor Jack Saunders, in search of a girl he loves, assumes the guilt for a murder in return for $20,000 and promise of a pardon at the end of a year. When the agreement is not fulfilled, he breaks jail and appears, demanding justice, before the governor, whose daughter, Margaret, committed the crime in self-defense. Saunders prevents her forced marriage to politician Burke, and Margaret, recognizing her lost love, clears his name and is herself exonerated.

Robert Wells is an American born in China who, unbeknownst to him, has an Oriental half-brother. Wells' uncle sends him to help Ray Williams build bridges in China. Williams is in league with Chinese reactionaries and he discredits Wells by turning him into a drug addict. Wells eventually becomes an outcast and is in a stupor when he is found by his half-brother, Kong Sue, the son of the Lord of Thundergate, a powerful Mandarin reactionary.

Mark O'Rell is sent to New York by his wife's Aunt Cordelia to recover a valuable quilt. In the city he finds the quilt, discovers that it conceals stolen jewels, and in consequence is pursued by both police and thieves. Police catch the thieves, Mark gets the quilt, and he returns home safely.

A family of Russian Jews living in New York struggles to survive, while the mother strives to better their lives, but she finds that most of her efforts costs more then they are worth.

Paul Porter and his swindler friend Daddy Moffat visit Paul's hometown and find an old friend, Holt Langdon, local bank cashier, in trouble over oil investments. Because of his friendship and love for Langdon's sister, Margaret, Paul resolves to help him by robbing the bank. Finding Holt a victim of suicide inside the bank, he makes it appear that Holt died defending the premises. Paul determines to reform, and he aids Margaret by buying a local newspaper. When two confidence men induce the populace to invest in a fake oil well scheme, Paul and Daddy Moffat, with the help of lawyer Colonel Culpepper, start another phony oil well and force the confidence men to buy it out at a high price. Paul returns the townspeople's money and tells Margaret the story; she then agrees to marry him.

Mary Franklin has a drunken father, an invalid mother, and a kid brother and sister to support. To make ends meet she is works as a hostess in a sleazy cafe, where she steals jewelry from her dancing partners.