The story of the rise and fall of Rasputin, the so-called "mad monk" who dominated the court of the Russian czar in the period prior to the Russian revolution.

A young woman, who is the daughter of a sea captain, falls in love with a man from a rich family who does not approve of her.

A Wall Street financier fed up with the city drives to the old country homestead where he was born and takes a walk through the orchard. Full of memories he joins in a baseball game with some youngsters during which he sees his boyhood sweetheart passing. Recognizing each other they stroll off together down the rustic lane happy in each other’s company once more.

While working on a novel in his country home in Connecticut, married writer Tony Barrett develops romantic feelings for Manya Novak, the daughter of a neighboring farmer. Manya is unhappily engaged to Frederik Sobieski. After a snowstorm, Tony and Manya get trapped together in his house overnight. The next day, Manya's father insists that her wedding to Frederik take place in spite of Manya's misgivings. Drunkenness and jealousy result in tragedy at the wedding reception that night.

Gerrit Ammidon, despairing of any chance to marry his love, Nettie Vollar, because of a bitter feud between his father and her grandfather, sails to China to "get away from it all". While in Shanghai he rescues a beautiful young woman being attacked by a gang of street toughs. She turns out to be Taou Yuen, a Manchu princess. Gerrit discovers that, unless she finds a husband, she will be put to death, and he agrees to marry her. They return to Java Head, the Ammidon family home in Salem, Massachusetts, but Gerrit's "homecoming" has some unexpected consequences.

Alice Paige lives the Bohemian life in New York's Greenwich Village until she receives a letter informing her that she soon will inherit a fine country estate, provided that she live on the property with her maiden aunt. Alice reluctantly leaves New York for the provincial Southern town of Mayport, where she shocks the local inhabitants with her unconventional ways.

Young high school teacher Rosalie Allen rejects the love of Dr. Paul Duncan to "save" Lionel Brooks, a man down on his luck.

When the United States enters World War I, the widowed Helen worries that she will lose her only son David, who has just turned 21. Although David patriotically urges the employees at his factory to enlist, he reluctantly gives in to his mother's pleas to remain at home with her. When David is drafted, his panic-stricken mother alters the date on his birth certificate, although the later birth date implies that he is illegitimate. Disgusted, David enlists under an assumed name, thus shaming Helen, who confesses her dishonesty to the townspeople. Her son, now in uniform, then forgives her.