Jan Saxe and Peter Harlingen, two young men from Holland, arrive in America with little orphan Bertha Kruger whom they have befriended during the trip and whom they both love. Bertha has come to live with her blind Aunt Sophie, and when Jan secretly raises $500 for an operation to restore her aunt's sight, Bertha marries Peter, believing that he was the donor of the "secret gift."

Posing as relatives, Ralph and Helen Gordon visit Col. Moncrief Gordon's Kentucky mansion, hoping to marry Helen to the colonel's son, Donald. The colonel agrees, but Donald balks at the suggestion, then reveals his secret marriage to Alice Brown. The colonel turns them out, and Ralph conspires with Bob Thurston to frame Donald for theft of Colonel Gordon's wager money and to shanghai him. After 3 years Donald discovers the source of his misfortune, returns, finds his wife, hears of a plot against his father's best racehorse, wrings a complete confession from Thurston, and saves the Derby for his repentant father.

Young doctor Bradley Yates has been trying to come up with a serum to counteract blood poisoning, with no results. Exhausted, he takes a rest in the Blue Ridge Mountains and stays in a small mountain community. When a young schoolteacher comes to town a romance develops between her and Bradley, but the local gossips have spread rumors that he has seduced Talithy, a local girl, and will abandon her for the teacher. Complications ensue.

Katie Abbott, despairing of being a wallflower, is about to attempt suicide in the village pond when she is rescued by a young stranger.

Jack Norman is an office clerk who falls in love with co-worker Kate Blair, a stenographer. He gets fired from his job but before this can really sink in, he suddenly inherits 80 million dollars from a financier who once loved his mother. The financier, Glyde, was murdered, so Norman also inherits a load of troubles involving the blackmailers who want to killed him. In his attempt to outwit them, Norman poses as a valet, and has a friend impersonate him.

"I hope people see me as an artist, not a blind artist." Tou suffered a severe eye injury in an accident at a young age. The journey into complete blindness was a torment to him. Yet, he doesn't want his struggle and vulnerability to be seen. It is not until he meets Iris that light seems to come into his sight again.

Colonel Fairfax, who lives on a Virginia plantation with his adopted daughter, Prudence, has remained faithful to the memory of his former fiancée, Constance Llewellyn, with whom he had a misunderstanding twenty years earlier. When Constance, now a widow, returns to the adjoining estate, the colonel plans to sell his home to avoid an embarrassing situation, but Prudence intends to reconcile the couple. Tom, the colonel's nephew, arrives at the plantation following his graduation from an agricultural college, and initiates a romance with Prudence.

Richard Clark is a kind lawyer who decides to get tough after losing all his clients, but he discovers it's not that easy to be mean.

Posing as Stella Bolling's brother, whom he has killed, escaped convict Jim Kemp persuades Stella to help him escape to the Mexican border.

In a prologue, as a woman pages through a book, male figures, including a musketeer, a cowboy, a swordsman and a military officer, appear and bow. In the main story, the visit of Prince Ferdinandi sends New York society ladies scurrying to purchase gowns for the upcoming ball. The woman seen earlier looking longingly at the book, model Marjorie Bowen, fights off the advances of Cadwallader Smith, who accompanies a patron. When handsome Sir Derwain Leeds, the prince's aide-de-camp, arrives to see his fiancée Yvette Fernau outfitted, Marjorie exchanges a shy smile with him.