Theda Bara plays the social-climbing Olga Dolan, who becomes the Duchess of Rutledge by means of deception and sheer ruthlessness. Sadly, Bara, who had more or less single-handedly begun the "vamp" craze with the prototype of the genre, A Fool There Was, went out with little more than a whisper. She left films after the ironically titled The Lure of Ambition, and was lured back only twice, in: The Unchastened Woman (1925), a poverty row concoction which had few takers, and Madame Mystery (1926)

Society miss Sadie Love has just wed Prince Luigi Pallavincini when she gets a phone call from Jimmie Wakely, a suitor she has not seen in a year. She allows him to come by and declare his love but doesn't bother telling him she has just gotten married. Without giving it much thought, she decides she likes Wakely better and runs off with him.

Small-town barber Max Haber is the pride of his father, Johann, who owns an antiquated barbershop. Max adores Kitty Laverne, the manicurist, who loves him but is ambitious to be a dancer, so she heads for New York, hoping that he will follow in pursuit of better things. Mrs. Jackson-Greer, a New York society matron, has occasion to note Max styling the hair of a town girl and induces him to come to New York and pose as a French count. There he meets April, Mrs. King's niece, and loses his heart to her, as well as to Kitty, now a showgirl.

Frank Perry's wife Helen is away visiting her mother, and he uses this "free time" for a night of drinking at a nightclub. Unfortunately, when he tries to return home, he enters the wrong house and is nearly arrested When Helen comes back he tells her that the "incident" was actually an initiation rite of the Masons, knowing that his wife has always wanted him to join the group. She excitedly tells her father about Frank's becoming a Mason, since her father is also a Mason. What neither she nor Frank know is that her father has actually been doing the same thing Frank is--pretending to be a Mason when he actually isn't. Complications ensue.

Bob Howard, a WWI wounded soldier in a army hospital, meets and falls in love with Princess Elena. When the Armistice is signed, he is quickly shipped back home to America. Returning to Europe, he is mistaken as a Crown Prince traveling to be married to a Princess from another country. The Princess-bride, intended for another man, is his Elena.

Stella Maris is a beautiful, crippled girl, who is cared for by a rich family. They shield her from the harsh realities of the world, so that she has no idea of the cruel things that some people do. Unity Blake is a poor orphan all too familiar with the harsh realities of the real world. These two young women both fall in love with John, love which is complicated by the fact that he is still married to (though separated from) a bad wife.

Amarilly comes from a large family in a working-class neighborhood. She is happy with her family and her boyfriend Terry, a bartender in a cafe. But one day she meets Gordon, a sculptor who comes from a rich family, and she begins to be drawn into the world of the upper class.

John Carter is a good fellow. In fact, his good fellowship is Carter's one great fault, for the highballs and cocktails which go with it too frequently make him forget his more serious obligations and are cause for anxiety on the part of his charming fiancée Marybelle. Marybelle's little brother, Billie asks Carter what is making Marybelle so sad. Carter replies evasively, "It's a Ringtailed Rhinoceros." Billie vows to kill the rhino. When Carter fails to appear on time at a dinner which was planned to announce his engagement to Marybelle, and finally arrives intoxicated, her parents in anger force her to break the engagement and forbid Carter the house. Marybelle's rejection of Carter hits him hard.

In order to secretly replenish the family's failing fortunes, Virginia Griswold secures a position in the Secret Service to apprehend a group of counterfeiters and gain the reward money.

Julie le Breton is the illegitimate daughter of Lady Rose, whose own background resembles that of her daughter. Julie is buffeted by the ill treatment of her mother's family and nearly ruined by a fortune hunter, but her own resources and goodness stand her in good stead.