Convent raised Doris Elliott moves to New York to live with her brother Richard not knowing that he is part of a drug trafficking ring controlled by unscrupulous ward boss Michael O'Leary. At first Doris remains ignorant of the pervasiveness of crime and corruption in the Lower East Side until her friend, Mamie Bronson, whose brother, "Dopey Benny," has fallen victim to drugs, confesses that O'Leary has raped her. When O'Leary breaks into their home and attempts to rape her as well, he is shot when Richard unexpectedly arrives. Finding O'Leary dead and Richard unconscious, the police arrest Doris, and she is tried for murder. Defense lawyer Thomas McDonald, who has been working to expose the politician, is losing his case when Dopey Benny testifies that he killed O'Leary to avenge his sister's assault. Acquitted Doris is now free to marry Thomas.

Phoebe-Ann assumes her ill mother's duties as caretaker of the Washington Square studio of Worthington Bryce, who in attempting to become an artist against his wealthy father's wishes, has succeeded only in painting the town red. After her mother dies, Phoebe-Ann moves in with Worthy and his valet Jenkins, and although she is the reason for Worthy's subsequent serious pursuit of art, he credits his improvement to his fiancée Lela Trevor. Lela, however, merely desires his father's money, and really loves Worthy's friend Dick Moreland.

After millionaire Erastus Browning and his daughter Charlotte, a playwright, attend a crime play, Charlotte complains that the crook characters are not true to life. To prove her point, aided by supposed criminal Bidwell Wright, Charlotte invites a number of notorious criminals to her home for a party. The crooks all believe they have been invited to form an international family of thieves, headed by Charlotte and her father.