John Smith inherits two million dollars from his wealthy aunt on the condition that he divorce his wife Lucille, a former vaudeville performer. In order to qualify for his inheritance, John concocts the idea of divorcing his wife and then remarrying her.

While attending college in Washington, D.C., Yuki Onda, the daughter of a Japanese samurai, meets and falls in love with Pierre Le Beau, a diplomatic attaché. At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Pierre is sent to Japan as attaché to the Australian ambassador. When Yuki's father discovers his daughter's romance with a foreigner, he becomes enraged and betroths her to Prince Hagane for political reasons.

Rosie Sanguinetti's parents arrange her marriage, against her will, to Antonio Mosconi, "Tony the Barber." At the wedding ceremony in her Little Italy, New York neighborhood, Rosie flees to the settlement house where she meets Jerry Van Tyne, a wealthy young man who agrees, in a drunken state, to marry her. The next day Jerry realizes the consequences of the situation.

John Heppell, a wealthy young man about town, falls in love with Diana Laska, a noted actress, and marries her. After their child is born he tires of her and goes back to his old way of living. Infuriated at his neglect, Diana leaves him and goes abroad with Philip Goodier. He also tires of her in time, and she becomes a notorious character on the continent.

Italian potter Tony adopts an Italian waif, little Tony, and takes him from New York to the West to realize a long-held dream of owning a ranch.

Little Betty has a luxurious home, an army of servants and the costliest of toys. But she hasn't what a child wants most of all, other children to play with. The result is that she runs away and joins a group of children from the ghetto district on the beach. In play she exchanges clothing with a little boy. That evening Betty doesn't return home. Her maiden aunt, an over-zealous guardian, is frantic. She notifies the police. The same evening the father of the boy, who has lost his position and is facing starvation, decides to turn burglar. He steals into the home of Betty's father. The household is awakened and the intruder captured.

When a couple of scammers hold young Alice Faulkner against her will to discover the whereabouts of letters whose dissemination could cause a scandal affecting the royal family, Sherlock Holmes decides to take over the case. (Considered lost, a copy was found in 2014, in the vaults of the Cinémathèque Française.)

"The Stranger," an outcast who works in a saloon frequented by Peggy Bowlin, a poor girl suffering through hard times. She finds romance with Larry Darrant and her life begins to improve. They make plans to wed and leave England, but when a convict assaults Peggy, Larry gets involved and accidentally kills him. The Stranger is arrested for the murder, but he refuses to declare his innocence because he doesn't want to destroy Peggy's happiness.

Billy Jim is a rich cowboy who tries to seduce a young girl whose father exploits a mine.

Princess Triloff, an emigrée from Czarist Russia, escapes to America where she becomes a patron of the arts. She falls in love with the verses of impoverished poet Owen Carey and becomes his anonymous benefactor. When Owen inherits a fortune from his rich Uncle Krakerfeller, he assumes his uncle's identity and confers his own upon an impoverished friend, Frank Manners. At a resort, Owen meets the princess and falls in love with her, but is chagrined to discover that she is enamored with Manners. The princess finally discovers Owen's real identity and the two fall in love.