Seamstress Mary dreams of a better life outside a sweatshop. Her dreams come true when she draws the attention of the bourgeois Victor. She soon tires of him, and thanks to her, his money is almost gone. When he suggests settling down outside the big city, where his money could be enough for a modest living, she leaves him and picks up a new lover. A year later, he is living in a shabby, cold hovel, still pining away for her.

A Jewish parvenu climbs the social ladder by seducing wealthy women.

The lives of two young men-- A virtuous artist who's renounced a background of riches and a debonair swindler proclaimed by many the King of Paris-- intersect when the artist's mother becomes the target of the kingly charlatan.

Since Zoya Verenskaya's husband passed away ten years ago, she has been devoted to her daughter Lee. At present, Lee is in poor health, and she is in danger of losing her eyesight. Zoya's suitor Dmitry wants to get married, but Zoya is determined to wait until Lee is better. Then, on a vacation in the Crimea, they learn Lee's true feelings for Dmitry, and suddenly all of their lives are thrown into turmoil.

Based on Gustav Kadelburg's farce The Road to Hell.

A tragic miniature. Pavel Yartsev, aided by a footman, robs his mistress Ellen Belogorskaya. But the pearls in the stolen necklace turn out to be fake. The movie is not fully preserved, without inscriptions.