John Marble, a construction engineer is stricken by paralysis and begins to envision the growth of love between his wife Marion and his best friend, Bob Alten. Bent on suicide, however, the shock of seeing his wife and child endangered on a broken bridge shakes him to recover from his illness and discover that his suspicions were all imaginary.
Two factory owners, Hiram Maxwell and Nicholas Harding are almost polar opposites -- Maxwell pays careful attention to his employees needs, while Harding totally disregards them. Maxwell's son, Frank, is very much like his father, and he is engaged to Harding's daughter, Ethel, who, unfortunately, has some of her father's less appealing traits. Naturally, she's not thrilled when he goes to work amongst the laborers at her father's factory. One of the other workers is Ruth Kravo, and both Frank and Ivan Koyloff are attracted to her. One night when Frank calls on Ruth, Ivan jealously stabs him. The trouble this causes loses Ruth her job, but she goes to work as a secret service agent amongst her own people.
Feodor Turov, chief of the Russian Czar's secret police, orders his Cossacks to attack a village he believes to be infested with rebels. The Cossacks attack the village and massacre almost everyone, and the young Katerina is whipped to death. Before escaping to England, her sister Darya swears to avenge her sister's death. Years later--now one of the world's most famous prima ballerinas--she returns to Russia. Turov falls in love with her and manages to secure a meeting. She coyly asks him to take her to see a prison first. As it turns out, what he has planned for her is nothing compared to what she has planned for him.
The west is the stamping ground for Paul Temple and his thespian associates. He is talking with his sweetheart, Jane Dinsmore, as Alice Robinson, Jane's intimate friend, enters with a letter from an erstwhile associate, advising her to go to New York and accept a place in the chorus. A word from Temple, and Alice has made up her mind. She leaves for New York. Temple and Jane have been married some time and are living unhappily, apart from the old folks. The former's reputation as a heavy actor is wide, but drink has degraded him. Subsequently, Jane dies, due to Temple's abuse of her.
Zudora, not knowing she's an heiress to a $20 million fortune, lives with her uncle, a mystic and detective, who covets her inheritance. She wants to marry John Storm but her uncle is against it. However, the uncle makes a bargain; if Zudora can solve the next twenty mysteries brought to him, she can marry as she chooses. Episodes 1,2 and 8, plus another unidentified chapter, survive. The rest is believed to be lost.
This twenty-three episode serial told the story of a secret society called The Black Hundred and its attempts to gain control of a lost million dollars.