Struggling young painter Ruth Elliott has written her Eastern friend Mildred Colburn that she has gained fame in the West as an artist. When Mildred stops to visit on her way to Honolulu, Ruth hires Peter Neyland to pose as her chauffeur for five hours. Peter is actually a wealthy young man who accepts the offer as a lark.
Upon receiving an inheritance from her late uncle, a woman starts a fortune-telling business designed to make her dreams come true.
Chorus girl Rosa Carillo (Carmel Myers) finds herself in dire straits when the troupe she works with is disbanded and her last fifty dollars is stolen. Artist Billy Leeds (Earl Rodney) offers to take care of her, but she's leery of his proposition. Instead she finds work with an Italian grocer, Tony Bonchi (Edwin August). One of the other ex-members of the troupe has Tony arrested on a trumped up charge. Rosa returns to Billy and offers herself to him if only he'll get Tony out of jail.
Rosarita, a young relative of the powerful Doña Perfecta in the small Spanish village of Orbajosa, has been betrothed since infancy to her cousin, Pepe Rey Don Jose, although the two have never met. When Pepe comes to visit Rosarita, she immediately falls in love with him, but his offhand remark about the lack of enterprise in the small town alienates Doña Perfecta, and the old woman becomes determined to prevent the marriage.
At a mountain resort, Kenneth Scott falls in love with Marie Beauchamp, an older woman who merely amuses herself with him. When she deserts him to open a roadhouse, he sadly leaves the mountains and, in the company of an old wandering poet named "Doc" Podden, travels to a little village in the woods.
After Fred, an orphan raised by his wealthy Uncle Oliver marries Clara over his uncle's objections, the two men become estranged. When Fred and Clara's child Paul is six years old, Fred insists that his uncle pay them a visit over Christmas. Uncle Oliver, a very lonely old man, begrudgingly accepts but refuses to behave amicably towards Clara or Paul.
Little orphaned Kate lives happily in a New England lighthouse with its old keepers, Philemon, Peter and Captain Bartholomew. When Kate falls sick, the prudish Philemon hires Miss Summerville, a live-in nurse, to care for her, but is concerned about possible gossip. To alleviate the situation, each keeper and Dr. Carlyle propose to Miss Summerville, but she rejects them all. After hearing that Captain Peyton, a lighthouse inspector, is scheduled to arrive, Miss Summerville makes sudden plans to depart without explanation. At the urging of Carlyle, she agrees to stay, but tries to avoid Peyton by turning off the lighthouse beacon.
In dire financial straits, businessman John Baird considers liquidating the bonds that are held in trust for his little daughter Margery. Failing to comprehend her husband's desperation, Virginia Baird refuses his request and, upon overhearing his lawyer advising him to utilize the bonds without consulting her, she decides to place them in the hands of George Drake, an old friend. Drake hijacks the securities, however, and their disappearance leads to the break up of the Baird's marriage, resulting in Virginia leaving the house. Attempting to console her father, Margery sets out on her pony to bring her mother home. But she is held up on the road by Captain Kidd Jr., who adopts her as his first mate, and the two children take up residence on a grass hut on a nearby island.
Mrs. Standing, an old-fashioned country mother, sacrifices to put her son John through college so that he might have a better life. Upon completing school, John goes to the city where his financial success blinds him to the basic values taught to him by his mother.
Paris vamp Ernestine Bergot, posing as wealthy Englishwoman Sarah Brandon, goes to work on aging Count Ville Handry after first warming up on Malgat, a banker whom she ruined. Ernestine convinces the count to marry her despite his daughter's strenuous objections and then gains complete control of his fortune. Her steady milking of his funds makes the count decide to kill himself, but just as he is about to do it, Malgat, who has managed to catch up with Ernestine, exposes her to the authorities. Then, instead of the count, it is Ernestine who commits suicide rather than submit to arrest. A lost film.
Opera singer Renee Dupree is in love with struggling composer Julian who falls very seriously ill. She goes to impresario Mueller for the money Julian needs but is saved from sacrificing her virtue when a jealous lover kills Mueller.