The circus comes to town, and the town's orphans are treated to a day at the circus. The circus troupe's 'Jinx' girl causes so many problems for the performers and performances that, to escape punishment, she has to run away. She mingles with the orphans and runs away to join an orphanage.

William Fielding, a young widower, is living in Shanghai with his little boy, David. A young Chinese woman looks after the child, and Foo Chang, a trader, lusts after her. Because he believes she is David's mother, he kills Fielding. Fielding's faithful secretary, Li Clung, takes the boy to San Francisco to be raised by his grandfather. As an adult, David (also played by Gilbert) fights against opium trafficking with Li Clung's help.

Although she is secretly in love with Wade Clayton, Laura Sheldon accedes to the wishes of her parents and marrries George Baring. Soon after, war breaks out between the North and South, and Clayton is made captain of the regiment. The entreaties of Laura prompt Baring to enlist against his will. Seized with fear during battle, Baring attempts to run away but is shot by a comrade and left for dead. At the finish of the war, Clayton returns home and relates how bravely Baring died in action. A few years later, Baring, who had been hiding in Cuba, returns.

While out on a plundering expedition, outlaw Dick Durand comes upon a band of Indians attacking a group of settlers. Dick opens fire on the Indians, but before he forces them to flee, they kill everyone except three children and Durand himself.

Disgusted with his son Harvey's attitude since his return from college, wealthy William Ogden turns the boy out to make his own way in the world. Harvey finally lands in the Canadian North Woods, where he goes into business with Joe Dubois, a hunter and trapper. One day while Harvey is trapping, his leg is caught in a steel trap. He is rescued by A-Che-Chee, the daughter of Black Lynx the Indian Chief. A-Che-Chee takes Harvey to her cabin, where she dresses his wound. When her father and brother discover Harvey there, they insist upon an immediate marriage. Harvey protests, but finally agrees in order to maintain the good will of the Indians.

Lt. Milt Mulford graduates from West Point and is assigned to a cavalry outpost in the West, near an Apache reservation. One day the Apaches, tired of being cheated by a crooked Indian agent, break the reservation and Mulford is sent after them with a patrol. Unfortunately, he cracks under the pressure of his first firefight, and is thrown out of the army. His fiancé, disgusted, ends their engagement. He sets out to prove that he is not a coward and regain his fiancé's love.

John and Katherine Colby decide to put off parenthood until he has become wealthy. Their friends, Tom and Grace Donaldson, decide to start a family right away. While John works his way up to a position of power at a steel firm, Katherine begins to question the wisdom of their decision.

Anna Moore, a poor orphaned country girl, and her little brother, Tommy, live with hypocritical Squire Simpson, who conspires with his son to acquire the inheritance due the girl.

Joan Lowrie and her brutal father, Dan, labor in the English coal mines of the 1870's. Fergus Derrick, a new over-man, attempts to make his workers' lives more bearable but incurs Lowrie's wrath when he fires him for smoking in the mine. Bent on vengeance, Lowrie is beaten when he picks a fight with Fergus, then defiantly smokes in a mine tunnel. There is an explosion, Joan rescues Fergus, and their love triumphs over their class barriers. −

A young woman is hired as a governess for the son of a man grieving the loss of his wife. The governess's presence is unwelcome to the rest of the family, especially after the governess develops a romantic attachment to her employer.