Katherine Mortimer, a wealthy and eccentric young woman, spending the summer at the seaside with Mrs. Cochran, her aunt and companion, learns that she has been abandoned by her fiancé, Horace Castlebury, who has run off with Ethel Van Eltinge, a brewer's daughter. The headstrong Katherine vows to marry the first man she meets. She almost immediately enters into a marriage of convenience with Bill, but finds herself falling for the guy. After making a fool of herself when Horace unexpectedly shows up all ends happily when Bill knocks out Horace and tells Katherine he loves her too.

Neurologist and hypnotist Dr. Andrew Smiley is the guardian of wealthy siblings Wilfred and Marcie Redmond. Smiley wants to marry Marcia, as he desperately needs money, but when he proposes to her, she rejects him. Smiley has a secret lover, Sarah Kayton, the head nurse of his sanatorium, and she has borne him a son, Paul Kayton, who is Smiley's secretary, unaware that his boss is the father. Smiley devises a plan to have Marcia adjudged insane and take her fortune. He almost succeeds but at the last-minute he fails.

Broken-down tramp Weatherby finds inspiration to change his life after seeing the play "Youth". The plot follows Weatherby as he is given money by a kind passerby, which he uses to buy a theater ticket and see the drama that becomes the catalyst for his transformation.