Harold, on the strength of a letter telling him of a large legacy left to him, wrecks the grocery store in which he is employed, then dates up the village belle for a swell dinner. A second letter informs Harold that the money cannot be found, and that his legacy consists of one fur coat. Determined to make a splash in the village, he dons the coat and keeps his appointment with the belle, although it leaves him broke when she is done satisfying her Broadway appetite. Uncle Ben, the pawnbroker, comes in handy and after much haggling over the price, he relieves Harold of the legacy. When Harold learns that his uncle's fortune was sewed up in the lining of the coat he has some job getting the "benny" back, but he finally succeeds and recovers the cash.

A young girl is reared on a desert island by natives and led to believe that she is a goddess. One day an outsider comes to the island, and persuades her to accompany him to preach about the kindness and love she has experienced. She agrees, but she's soon confronted by the problems and travails of the "outside" world.

Sidney Drew hits a long shot, quits his job and goes on a toot. His wife thinks he has drowned. When he runs out of money he returns home to find that her rich uncle has died and left her a fortune and he pretends to have no memory of where he has been.

The lovely and wealthy Gladys Barnes is pursued by many young men though she favors the persistent Earle. Her head is turned when her father tells her a foreign Count has written with the request to marry her. An amateur artist Gladys paints a portrait of the Count from a photo but the young men at the studio first tease her and then decide to play a joke on her and her father. Sending a telegram that he is arriving early they all dress as different versions of the Count and comic complications ensue until Gladys realizes her folly and returns to Earle.

Wealthy widower Jonathan and Hannah Tubbs have been engaged for the past 20 years but Jonathan continues to stall. When the Widow Smiles tries to entrap him into matrimony Hannah threatens to sue him for breach of promise. Before Jonathan skips town young Freddy, who loves Jonathan’s daughter Sallie, extracts a promise that if he gets him out of his tangle Freddy can marry her. Freddy’s methods are a bit devious, but he wins Sallie’s hand.

The Youngloves have a cozy little apartment and a jewel of a cook, Bridget, and are happy until the landlord raises the rent. A slick agent convinces them to take a lease on "the modern Paradise” in Arcadia. A long, frightful journey takes them to "Eros Villa” a tumbledown old shack with a scrubby hedge running around it. After a veritable nightmare of a night trying to sleep on hastily-made-up hard beds and being scared nearly to death by huge rats scampering through the rooms the Youngloves rush to the agent's office, where he agrees to tear up the lease for two months' rent! The Youngloves, return to their old flat, sadder and wiser, but happy.

Retired sea captain Jonah Grundell is in charge of his niece Polly's fortune until she comes of age, or marries with his consent; if she marries without his consent before she is 21, the fortune goes to Jonah. He has handled the money so long he hates to give it up, so when Polly reaches 21, he manages to keep her in ignorance of the fact, and enters into an agreement with family lawyer Daniel White that he shall marry her and divide the money with him. White is a solemn old hypocrite, much admired by Jonah's spinster sister Myra; his one weakness is his love of the bottle. Fresh book agent Benjamin Bunter arrives in town with a flourish, meets and falls in love with Polly, and she falls in love with him. Bunter puts White out of the running, then digs up a birth certificate that proves that Polly is over 21. He forces Jonah to consent to their marriage, while White is left to the consolation of Myra.

Ruth and her father stay at an inn run by the malicious Scroogles. The Scroogles rob Ruth's father, throw his seemingly dead body over a cliff, and deny he was ever there when Ruth asks. Ruth seeks help from artist Richard Foster. Together, they find evidence, confront the Scroogles, leading to a struggle where Mr. Scroogles accidentally kills his wife before being shot and dying himself. Ruth and Foster (now engaged) find her father alive but dazed; he recovers, and adopts a mistreated girl from the inn. The traumatic "empty room" incident leaves a lasting impression on Ruth.