Barry Gordon, the older son of a Virginia colonel, inherits a taste for alcohol--a habit that caused his father's death. His brother, Tom, falls in love with Muriel Beekman, their guardian's daughter. Barry also loves her but feels rejected. Three years later, after extended travels, Barry learns that Tom, having been sent to Morocco by Mr. Beekman, has been captured by desert marauders and is being held for ransom. He begins a search for him and in Tangiers encounters the Beekmans and Kitty Van Ness. Barry and Muriel discover their love for each other, but he refuses to commit himself while Tom is still alive.

Topsy, a Black slave girl who "jes' growed" is auctioned but nobody will bid. A young girl named Eva purchases Topsy for a nickel.

Sentenced to be deported from Hawaii, Hung Chin Chung pledges twenty years of service to Henry Drew to escape the certain death that awaits him in China. Rage at his humiliation and inability to marry as a free man smolders in him throughout his servitude, near the end of which he sails to San Francisco with the Drew family. Also on board is Ralph Coolidge, who tries to retrieve from Drew his share of their gold mine, and who loves Drew's secretary, Mary-Will Tellfair. Shortly after their arrival, Henry Drew is murdered; suspicion falls on Ralph, the owner of the murder weapon, a curious Chinese dagger; but subsequent events lead Hung Chin Chung to confess to the crime.

Patsy is the awkward sister of the lovely Grace. She is also in love with Grace's boyfriend. Mother shows favoritism towards Grace, and father is too accommodating to stand up for Patsy, although he knows she is picked on. When they are all at supper, Grace runs away on a motorboat with a millionaire playboy. During a deep talk with Grace's boyfriend, Patsy reveals that she is in love with somebody who doesn't know she exists.

Mary's kid brother needs an operation and, in order to pay for it, Mary goes to a Hollywood studio and applies for a job as an actress. Mary is given a job as a waitress in the commissary, and gets to meet 40 actors, actresses and directors, none of whom tip big enough to enable Mary to earn enough money to pay for an operation. Will Mary become an actress and make some big money?

In Borrowed Plumes is a silent comedy

Youth meets Ambition and leaves Love, his mother, and his small-town roots for the big city. There, in his search for Experience, he meets Pleasure and hangs out at the Primrose Path with the likes of Temptation and Intoxication. Back home, Youth's mother dies, and Love tries unsuccessfully to reach him. When Youth's money runs out his newfound friends all leave him and he sinks into a life of drug addiction, aided by Habit.

A European prince is raised in America without knowing his true identity; he spends his time thrill-seeking, but his country needs him when a revolt threatens the crown.

As baby-faced chorine "Pat" O'Brien, the star protects her virtue against various and sundry stage-door Johnnies and sugar daddies. Implicated in a crime, Pat is pursued by detective Danny Mallory, who of course eventually falls in love with her and seeks to prove her innocence.

Tom Wells is dissatisfied with his lot in life. Wondering aloud whether he'd be happier if things were different, he soon gets his chance to find out. The rest of the story is an extension on the old proverb which begins "Be careful what you wish for."