A husband goes to a convention, where he gets entangled with a lady bandit, who passes herself off as his wife.

A writer takes a job as a secretary because her scrupulous husband isn't bringing in the dough as an attorney. When her new employer is murdered, she can't seem to make up her mind as to whether she "dunnit" or not.

Anne's money is hidden inside a pillow that is given away for a charity bazaar. Four different parties try to find the pillow and buy it, only to realize the money is gone. The search leads to a cleaning establishment where, in a chaotic scene, pillows are torn apart, filling the air with feathers. After falling into a starch tank and being covered in flying feathers, the father is disguised as a "huge chicken". After being chased and taking refuge on an ostrich farm, the father is rescued, and the money is used by Anne for her honeymoon.

A bookish college student dismissive of athletics is compelled to try out sports to win the affection of the girl he loves.

Luke Hawkins, the jack-of-all-trades of the western town of Lariat, falls in love with Mary Darling, the leading lady in a traveling theatrical troupe (of the old-fashioned "mortgage melodrama" variety). He follows her to New York, takes another series of jobs, and finally works as an extra in Mary's new production. Just as the play is about to flop, Luke recognizes Mary, and his rush to take her in his arms turns the show into a hit.

Sailors Stan and Ollie offer to buy sodas for two women they meet in a park, even though they are short on cash. Luckily Stan wins the jackpot on a slot machine and the boys have enough money to rent a boat to cruise on a lake. They soon tangle with other boaters and everyone ends up in the water.

Bob Erskine, the son of a wealthy New York banker, falls in love with Ella Parkhurst, the daughter of an Oregon rancher. Bob goes to work as a fieldhand for the elder Parkhurst and discovers that the Oregon crops may fail because eastern bankers, led by Bob's father, refuse to advance the farmers credit. Bob intercedes with his father, who promises to help the ranchers if Bob wins the steeplechase in the Pendleton rodeo.

King James I gives his consent to the marriage between Lord Carnal and Lady Jocelyn Leigh. Lady Jocelyn, however, does not want to wed the evil Lord Carnal, and makes her escape on a bridal ship headed for Jamestown, VA. When it lands, a ruffian tries to take Jocelyn as his bride, but Captain Ralph Percy rescues her by marrying her himself. The marriage, however, is in name only, as Jocelyn wants little to do with Percy.

Kate Tarleton grows up on a Southern plantation and becomes engaged to her guardian, Dr. Robert Manning, a famous surgeon. When Robert, Kate, and her younger sister Mary Lou visit New York, where the doctor wishes to conduct medical experiments, the superstitious Kate goes to the home of a fortune-teller named Stella Hill. Stella, whose principal business is white slave trafficking, drugs Kate and forces her to work in a "den of vice," run by Stella and her accomplice Jimmy Bristol, where she contracts syphilis and goes insane. Robert, Detective Ellis, and a lawyer named Billy Meredith rescue Kate, who recovers her sanity but remembers nothing of her bondage.

Philanthropical druggist Daniel Abbott, occasionally robs the rich to take care of the poor, goes to court with his young ward, Jimmy Nolan. In the courtroom Daniel meets Mrs. Warren, who, despondent over her inability to care for a newborn baby, has been charged with attempted suicide. Daniel takes mother and daughter under his wing, watching with pride as the girl, Helen, and his ward, Jimmy, grow to a tender adolescence. Sylvester Doane, a tenement owner, falls in love with Helen, and Daniel makes plans to rob him. Jimmy learns with shock of the plans and goes to Doane's apartment to prevent the robbery. Jimmy takes the gems to forestall his father, but he is found with them in his possession and put in jail.