1905 was a period of heavy immigration from Europe to America before laws were passed restricting the flow of immigrants. Almost every character in this movie is a recent arrival. Tisa has been in America only four months, yet she is holding four jobs to save enough money to pay for her father's boat passage to America. She works in a garment factory in Greenwich Village owned by Mr. Grumbach, who is studying to pass his citizenship test. Denek, a brash young man, tries to help her but gets her into trouble and her deportation is ordered by an immigration judge.

Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through worry, scandal, and heartache.

Young Austrian Archduke Paul "Gustl" Gustave is in an arranged engagement but his uncle, the emperor, decides to let Gustl carry on a fling with ballet dancer Lisl Gluck.

A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.

The exploits of Brigadier Gerard who helps expose Foreign Minister Talleyrand as a traitor to Napoleon.

In 1911, minor stage comic, Vernon Castle meets the stage-struck Irene Foote. A few misadventures later, they marry and then abandon comedy to attempt a dancing career together. While they're performing in Paris, an agent sees them rehearse and starts them on their brilliant career as the world's foremost ballroom dancers. However, at the height of their fame, World War I begins.

Bob Hope is being stalked by a predatory widow who is a widow of wealthy husbands many times over. Martha Raye is a Texan heiress who wants to marry her boyfriend Andy Devine, but her father is determined that she marry into royalty. To solve both their problems, Martha Raye and Bob Hope decide to marry, but will they ever find love together?

Three girls from a small town win a trip to Monte Carlo. The trip was sponsored by their local newspaper, which sends along its ace reporter Bancroft as their "chaperone".

Madame Adele, once a great star of the Paris theatre, has fallen upon hard times. But she allows a young American performer, Marie Duval, to perform as the Madame Adele of old, and both become the darlings of Paris, one again and the other newly-crowned.

German Julius Reuter sends 19th-century news by carrier pigeon and then by wire, founding a news agency.