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.
After a forward introduces the question of whether women are temperamentally suited for jury duty, Jim O'Neil, a young shipping clerk, is found holding a revolver over his dead employer, Edward Knox. The celebrated novelist Grace Norton, selected to be on the jury at Jim's trial, becomes the first woman juror in New York.
A young actress seeks an engagement in New York but faces obstacles due to jealousy and politics. Her wealthy broker finances a production, demanding her best role. She resists, then moves to Denver for a stock engagement and falls in love with a newspaper writer.
As heiress to a large fortune, Marguerite is able to satisfy her love for beautiful clothes and a taste for adventure, while confronted by a multitude of schemers and gangsters bent on reducing her to poverty.