"Damaged Goods" pictures the terrible consequences of vice and the physical ruin that follows the abuse of moral law. It is a stirring plea for a pure life before marriage, in order to make impossible the transmission of hereditary traits to future generations.

Pinky Cochrane is one of a trio of starving artists: the other two are Sam Wellbridge and Mac MacTavish. When one of their favorite models dies, the three heroes take charge of the woman's infant son Victor. Once the boy has grown to manhood, his three foster fathers decide to choose a likely wife for their "shared" son.

John Slocum has always been a decent young man. When he was twelve, his uncle Henry introduced him to little Bess De Voe, telling them that when they grew up they should marry. John's uncle sends him to the manager of a publishing house in New York with instructions to "give him a job for what it's worth and keep him until he succeeds."

Under an assumed name, law student Lawrence Kirby courts the daughter of Dr. Cartmell. When she becomes pregnant, however, Lawrence leaves town to escape the responsibility of rearing his illegitimate child. Years later Kirby, now a judge and a stern proponent of capital punishment, unknowingly sentences his innocent son to death in the electric chair on the basis of circumstantial evidence. As the youth is about to be executed, his identity is revealed and the horrified Kirby relents. The judge's plea for mercy is ignored, however, and his son electrocuted. Immediately afterwards, Dr. Cartmell, a longstanding opponent of the death penalty, revives the lad and restores him to his mother.

Philip Holden is a young dilettante and disappointment to his brother, Miles. His sister-in-law, Louise, attempts to interest him in something beyond literature, leading him to attend a bridge party that changes his trajectory.