An escaped convict stows away on a ship of mutinous treasure hunters to find the crooks who framed him for murder.
The scheming aunt and uncle of William Judd, heir to the family fortune, persuade him to pose as Napoleon at a fancy masquerade ball, but they are actually having him committed to an insane asylum. Since all the other inmates/attendees think they are historical figures such as Robin Hood, the Duke of Wellington, Paul Revere, William Tell, Salome, Robinson Crusoe, Sherlock Holmes and others, it takes a while for Judd to separate the wheat from the chaff and prove he is not deranged. His quest becomes more urgent when he falls in love with a nurse named Josephine, who does not think she is Napoleon's "Josephine" but is convinced Judd thinks he is Napoleaon.
King Louis XIII of France is thrilled to have born to him a son - an heir to the throne. But when the queen delivers a twin, Cardinal Richelieu sees the second son as a potential for revolution, and has him sent off to Spain to be raised in secret to ensure a peaceful future for France. Alas, keeping the secret means sending Constance, lover of D'Artagnan, off to a convent. D'Artagnan hears of this and rallies the Musketeers in a bid to rescue her. Unfortunately, Richelieu out-smarts the Musketeers and banishes them forever.
Doris Matthews, a beautiful, innocent young girl, forsakes her sweetheart, Joel Barlowe, in favor of Victor Brant, a wealthy roué. On the night before they are to elope, an old sailor gives Brant a strange potion to drink and then unfolds before his eyes "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Deeply touched by this story about the consequences of the wanton destruction of innocent beauty, Brant leaves without Doris. After some time, he returns and finds to his pained satisfaction that Doris, having overcome her infatuation for him, has again turned her tender attentions toward Joel.
This drama had two directors: Maurice Elvey handled most of the film, but the fantasy sequence was directed by Henry Otto. Newlyweds Alice and Robert are already having differences over money. He gets angry at her extravagances, especially when she spends more than they can afford on an imitation pearl necklace. Ridgeway, a client of Robert's, invites the couple to a party. Robert wants to decline, but Alice insists that they go. Ridgeway loans Alice a real pearl necklace, to "restore their lustre," and everyone heads for his yacht. Ridgeway pays Alice a lot of attention, while a young widow tries to vamp Robert.
The tactics of a vicious slumlord and greedy businessman finally drive a distraught man to commit suicide. The businessman is tried for murder and executed, and is afterward taken by demons to the Hell where he will spend the rest of eternity. .
Venus, the Goddess of Love (Celeste Lee) sends Cupid to Earth to look for romance.
Lilly Meany has grown up amongst charlatans, including her father. She decides to become a faith healer, and her first victim, a rich hypochondriac woman, is easy enough to "cure." In fact, the woman's so happy with Lilly, now calling herself Vashti Dethic, that she recommends her to her nephew, Judah, Lord Asgarby, who has a crippled sister, Eve. The little girl gives Lilly so much innocent trust and love that she actually is able to walk for the first time ever.
After Ned Hamilton is rejected by his girlfriend, he travels to Japan where he hears an old legend about the Willow Tree Princess, who kills herself so that her lover will go off to battle. When he makes a purchase from Tomotada, an image maker, he meets his pretty daughter O-Riu, and they recreate the events of the legend.
Society girl Rosalind Chalmers misses the last ferry to the Thousand Islands and is taken over in the decrepit motorboat of One-Cylinder Sam, who is really William Kellogg, heir to the Davidson millions trying to raise money for an expensive vase of his uncle’s that he broke. On the journey they break down and much to his surprise Rosalind, who’s hobby is engines, fixes theirs. Once landed the pair are off on a series of adventures with Rosalind mistakenly assuming “Sam” is a burglar until all is explained by which time they are in love.
Although Dorenzo murders Betty Herron, a jury convicts her brother James, and sentences him to life imprisonment. Then, after James saves the governor's life during a prison revolt, he is made a trustee and falls in love with the governor's daughter Ruth, even though he has yet to meet her.
Paul, raised by gypsies, is sent to college and falls in love with the co-ed Daisy.
Old Morgan, an eccentric millionaire in a western city, has a dissipated young son. He has also a very sweet adopted daughter, Edwina. One day the son is waylaid near the railroad yards, stripped of a big "roll" and thrown unconscious into a box car.