Thousands of persons would die in the present if it were not for the memories of the past. Old Mrs. Merkle has one cherished reminder of bygone days, her wedding gown.

To avoid ruin, an impoverished count arranges a marriage between his daughter and a wealthy man she does not love. After an accident, she is taken in by a gifted artist who saves her from an unseemly fate.

Lillian Travers, a New York heiress, pops down to Florida to surprise her fiancé, Fred Cassadene, the house doctor at a prominent Saint Augustine hotel. The surprise, however, is Lillian's when she finds Fred in a series of compromising situations with a certain wealthy widow staying there. When she can take no more, Lillian discovers a box forgotten at an old curiosity shop in which lies a hundred-year-old secret: a vial of four rare and exotic African seeds that promises to transform whoever swallows one from a woman to a man or vice versa.

A rich swell travels out West to escape marrying a social climber. There, he meets and marries a bareback rider from traveling circus. Bringing her home, his family's pernicious double-standards are revealed.

The dramatist’s wife pawns her necklace when her husband tells her he cannot afford to buy her a new gown for the Vavasour Ball. The pawnbroker's daughter borrows the necklace from his safe so that she may wear it to another ball. Trouble ensues for all.