During World War I, Robin Cameron transforms her home on the Scottish seacoast into a hospital for convalescing soldiers. Sidney Carson, who owns the adjoining estate, and Dr. Hyde both love Robin, but she gives her heart to John Hamilton, an American soldier whose ship was sunk off the coast.

Although Spencer Wellington (Howard Hickman) comes from an old, aristocratic family, he carries a bad gene. His doctor, John Rand (George Fisher) recommends that he never marry, but Wellington ignores his advice and weds Grace Valiant (Mary Mersch), who the doctor himself loves. Grace checks out Wellington's family tree and discovers the gene, but she's already pregnant. She gives birth to a child with a birth defect that kills him.

Lemuel Deering's son Harvey graduates from college at the top of his class, then returns home to become a partner in his father's steel business. Because Harvey appears to be an exemplary young man who neither drinks nor smokes, when bills from liquor dealers, tobacconists, and billiard emporia pour in, the proud father is mystified. Harvey stoutly denies having contracted the bills, including one for $25,000, and Lemuel, though puzzled, believes him until the workers threaten to strike and the bank places an attachment on the mill. Lemuel is about to disown his son when Harold Morrowton, Harvey's college roommate, confesses that he forged Harvey's name to the bills because his own father refused to give him spending money, and Harvey adds that because the two were fraternity brothers, he could not betray Harold's trust. Exasperated, Lemuel orders both young men to pay their debts through hard labor in the mill.

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

A shy and sensitive young man is disregarded by his parents and his older brother. Bill becomes jealous and schemes to send his brother away when Ben wins the affections of pretty neighbor Adeline. Ben wins out when the trip on which Bill has sent him becomes a great success.

A New York fashion model finds herself being pursued by a poor but honest garage mechanic and a rich philanderer.

Donald marries Maizie in order to save his brother. The couple go to Arizona where their love ripens, and through Maizie's prayers, Donald regains his health. Mrs. Van Wye then comes to visit and tells Maizie that she is preventing Donald from assuming his rightful place in society. Crushed, Maizie starts across the desert alone, and when Donald learns of his mother's dreadful behavior, he follows Maizie and begs her to stay.

Three young men, struggling to find their next meal, encounter a young lady with an injured ankle. One of the men is a doctor, who maintains a charade of success with his wealthy uncle, in which the uncle believes the young man to be well-off and married to a (fictitious) wife named Mary Jane Smith. The young doctor falls in love with the girl of the injured ankle and discovers that her name is Mary Jane Smith.

Unknown to his proud and wealthy family, Granger Hollister marries Margery Harding, a telephone operator. Granger presents his new wife at an engagement party given for his sister Jane, but Jane's fiance, Lord Cecil Graydon, threatens to break off the betrothal unless Granger's marriage is annulled. To please his sister, Granger sacrifices Margery, who seeks work and later gives birth to a child. Following the baby's death, Margery goes West, where she befriends an old miner who later leaves her his fortune. Meanwhile, Granger becomes involved in a fraudulent mining deal, and because of George Osborne's perjured testimony, he is sent to prison for five years. When he escapes, Margery agrees to hide him and is ultimately responsible for obtaining his pardon. Granger then remarries the wife he once abandoned.

Bernice Bristol Flint, an attractive grass widow (a woman divorced or separated from her husband), associates herself intimately with a number of divorce attorneys who live well on their percentage from unscrupulously secured divorces carrying a large alimony.