Well-to-do Mr. and Mrs. Gilton live next door to a large family, the Biltons, that struggles to make ends meet. Despite their desire to be friendly, Mr. Gilton is frequently irritated by his neighbors, insisting that they stay out of his yard, and blaming them for anything that goes wrong. During the holiday season, the differences between the two families become even clearer. Mrs. Gilton wants to do something to help the Biltons, but Mr. Gilton will take a lot of convincing.

Mr. Clayworth, a wealthy American and self-made man, has a daughter Bessie, who is determined to marry a foreign title much against her father's wishes. She has an American suitor, William Brooks, who is deeply in love with her but he is given little encouragement. Mr. Clayworth plans to discourage his daughter with nobility and accordingly goes to an employment agency where he engages three foreign menials to impersonate noblemen, supplying them with evening clothes and arranging to have them call at his house that evening. Bessie is overjoyed when she learns from father that three noblemen are to honor them with their presence. Father incidentally suggests that if the noblemen do not come up to her expectations to patch up her little quarrel with Billy and say no more about marrying a title. The fun begins when the three bogus noblemen present themselves at Clayworth's house as Duke Macaroni, Lord Brien Berue and Baron Hasenpfeffer.

Eccles, a profligate old drunkard, is the father of two beautiful girls, Esther and Polly. George D'Alroy, a young officer in the British Army who is infatuated with Esther, brings his friend, Captain Hawtree, to call. The captain is greatly taken with the lively Polly, who makes him carry the teakettle about and generally dance attendance on her to the emphatic disgust of Sam Garridge, an ardent suitor for Polly's hand. Meanwhile Esther shows George a letter from an impresario offering her an engagement on the stage. The offer seems a veritable godsend to the girl, but she changes her mind when George asks her to be his wife instead. A few months after they are married, George receives the unpleasant news that he must sail for India with his regiment. Owing to her ultra-aristocratic ideas, George has not dared to tell his mother, the Marchioness D'Alroy, that he has married a girl of common origin, and he is in a quandary as to what provision he should make for Esther.

Mr. Jack flirts with a chic little miss, but accidentally knocks one of her gloves into the soup dish. He promises to replace it, but trouble ensues.

A young boy aspires to knowledge and higher education but his father, a plain man with narrow goals, is content with an ordinary school education for him and puts him to work despite the principal's protests. The principal even offers the father an opening by which his son could work during the day and attend school at night throughout a season, but the father declines. Disheartened by the life of drudgery, his father’s decision has wrought he travels the wrong road and goes from hopelessness to recklessness, trapped in an unhappy marriage and a life of hopelessness.

Should she marry for love or for money?

Uncle Sam is mistaken for Marion's uncle Sam.

Chivalrous Kernel Nutt comes to the aid of beauty in distress, when he sees a pretty damsel trying unsuccessfully to tie her shoelace. When he has tied it for her, a baseball, hot off the bat of a young Ty Cobb, hits the lady in the foot and she, thinking Nutt did it, hits him over the head with her handbag, then forgets to remove the bag, and Nutt discovers that it contains a nice big roll of bills. He takes a manicurist out to lunch, then accompanies her back to her place of business, a beauty parlor, where he is just in time to assume the duties of the boss, who is leaving for a vacation. After many amusing incidents, the lady who had treated him so ungratefully, enters the parlor and makes things hot for Nutt, who is finally forced to return the bag full of coin.

Grace Walker, a young Miss, attends a dinner dance wearing tight slippers. She accidentally kicks off one slipper to relieve her foot, but the guests' feet accidentally kick it away. Grace leaves the room in her stockinged foot, hoping to find the owner. Dick Evans, a young man, finds the slipper and tries to find the owner. He eventually finds Grace behind potted plants with one foot visible. Grace denies knowing about the slipper, and Dick devises a clever plan: he traps a mouse in a trap in the house, causing the ladies to climb chairs. Grace admits ownership of the slipper, allowing her to join in the whirl.

A documentary showing the life story of an Aboriginal man, Mr Clive Williams, and his family. Scenes and stills captured around the time of Mr Williams' childhood and youth in rural eastern Australia during the 1930s and 1940s. The film shows the movement of Mr Williams and his family from an Aboriginal settlement to a cottage on the outskirts of a country town, and from there to Rose Hill in Sydney. In Sydney Mr Williams works for 15 months as secretary to the Tranby Cooperative for Aborigines Ltd, then for the Department of Main Roads. He expresses satisfaction in achieving what he considers to be a better quality of life for his family and greater opportunities for his children.