The story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.

Chester Binney, a wounded war veteran, erroneously believes he is carrying a silver plate in his head and must avoid all excitement. He returns to his hometown, and there his former employer, George Simmons, attempts to arrange a match between Chester (who is to inherit a fortune) and his daughter Ethel. Ethel, however, finds Chester unexciting as a lover; and to enliven the affair, the father invents a lurid past for the boy by displaying a signed photograph of Rita Renault, a famous movie star. Rita, accompanied by her jealous husband, Jack Shields, arrives in the town for a personal appearance. By chance, Jack discovers the photograph of Rita, presumably the property of Chester, and when he sees his wife kissing Chester, a running fight ensues.

Mary Young is a young wife who wants beautiful clothes. Her friend Enid invites her to shop at Madame Francine's, where she meets the Countess de Fragni, an artist, and Mr. Norris, an elderly roué and he invites her to a poker game. She wins and buys an expensive fur coat with the money but tells her husband she won it with a pawn ticket.

Millionaire William van Luyn falls in love with his secretary Joan Thayer and marries her. Her family, part of "the great middle class" (as blowhard nephew Henry keeps reminding us), is happy for Joan, but reluctant to take charity from Will. He moves in with them, and they keep resisting, until one day he takes drastic action.

Mrs. Burgess explains menstruation to her teen-aged daughter by showing her diagrams in a medical book. Her daughter-in-law Mary then tells Mrs. Burgess that she wishes that she, too, knew more about her body. She also reveals that she may be expecting a baby and is apprehensive about her safety and the changes that a new baby will bring to her life.

When Victoria’s husband Leonard leaves her for Helen , Victoria takes up with artist Antonio. However both couples end up on George La Fuente's dude ranch. Everybody begins arguing with the poor Senor Fuentes.

A young man raised in the American South discovers he is an Indian prince whose throne was taken by usurpers.

Joe (Tearle) and Bessie (Ayres), living in sin and just scraping by. Bessie thinks Joe has stolen their meagre savings, so she leaves him and becomes a manicurist eventually marrying a wealthy man who turns out to be stingy and cruel. Joe saves heiress Marion (Mills) from drowning, makes good as a civil engineer and eventually marries her. Joe and Bessie meet again by chance and Joe, in helping her to keep her secret, incurs Marion's jealousy. Bessie, extorted by a former acquaintance in desperation, decides to tell everything to her husband. However, to aid Joe she accuses Wallace (Miljan), with whom Marion is preparing to go away. Finally, Joe and Marion are reconciled, but Bessie learns that the world never forgives a woman who sins even when she has reformed.

Jimmy Clark, sightseeing in France with his friend Algy Baker, falls in love, at first sight, with Betty Perry at the railroad station. The destination for all: Switzerland. There, Jimmy is mistaken for an expert mountain climber, J.K. Roberts. Betty is introduced to Jimmy and believes him to be the champion.

Zara, a phony psychic in a Hungarian carnival who, under the guidance of a Svengali-like con man crashes—and proceeds to swindle—American high society.