Acting
At a lavish luncheon in Palm Beach, Walker Farr, a wealthy and idle young man, bets that he can live in perfect contentment as a penniless hobo and sets out to prove it. On the road, Walker meets Kate Kilgour and her fiancé, Richard Dodd, but upon his arrival in the town of Marion he learns that she is being forced into the marriage by her mother, who owes Richard $5,000.
Carol Kingsley and Jimmy Mason, who are both employed in a fashion emporium run by Pierre Ronsard, fall in love and are married. Victor Ronsard, the son of the owner, falls in love with Carol and designs to break up the Mason marriage. He falsely informs Carol that Jimmy, who is the Ronsard bookkeeper, is short in his accounts and that, if she will have dinner with him, he will give her the incriminating papers.
John Steel is a poor boy with a gentle spirit, but he has a natural gift for fighting. His mother is a strict pacifist, so although he has opportunities to make a career as a boxer, he refuses--until hard times force him to enter the ring despite his mother's pleas.
The valet of Lord Harold Varden, on a secret mission to our Government, has been murdered. Dick Holloway, a reporter, detailed to the story, calls on Lord Varden just as the latter feels the effects of poison administered to him. He takes the place of the nobleman when his American cousins come for him, and not only saves his lordship's papers, but captures the spies detailed to get them.
"Squint" Taylor owns a ranch and has a much older mining partner. When the partner is fatally wounded, he makes Taylor promise to take care of his daughter Marion. Taylor is more than happy to do his bidding, but Marion and her uncle are both involved with William Carrington, who is trying to cheat them out of her share of the mine.
Infamous Mexican bandit Pancho LĂłpez recognizes Gilbert Jones as the man who once saved his life; therefore, when Jones is in danger of losing his ranch for default of mortgage payment, LĂłpez determines to help him. At the same time, Morgan Pell, intending to cheat Jones out of his potentially oil-rich property, offers him a sum of money, which Jones conditionally accepts.
A Chaplin-like tramp is mistaken for a Bolshevik
A 1922 re-edit of Fred J. Balshofer’s earlier feature—shot in 1918 as Over the Rhine and released in 1920 as An Adventuress—this version was issued to capitalize on Rudolph Valentino’s sudden stardom. The cut boosts Valentino’s presence through repeated/enlarged shots, looping and out-takes, and reframes the story in a tropical island setting; it’s widely regarded as a cash-in reissue.
The Earl of Gilleigh, whose dyspepsia has been severely aggravated by the news that his ill-tempered wife Sophronia is due to arrive from abroad, is startled by the noise of a burglar and enters the room to find his long-lost brother, Warren Ellis, voraciously helping himself to a meal. Warren accepts the Earl's proposal that the two trade identities, and while he remains in Gilleigh, the Earl retreats to his country estate. After meeting Sophronia, however, Warren quickly follows his brother to the country, where he is entranced by a lovely shepherdess named Rosalind.
The only son of Gov. Adele Fenway, Bob, is engaged to Marian Lee, and at a dinner Adele announces her intention of giving them a wedding house. Having refused to support a water power bill endorsed by Jim Dornton, the political boss of the state, the governor is threatened.
Poverty-stricken John Hargrave is forced to beg employment from rich mill owner Roger Winton in order to save his sick mother's life. Winton refuses to help, and when Hargrave's mother dies, he swears revenge. Eighteen years pass and Hargrave is now owner of a large paper mill, in competition with Winton. Hargrave and Winton's son, Roger Jr., are also rivals for the same woman, Irene Foster, who desires Winton's love but Hargrave's money. Winton, Sr., in an attempted takeover of Hargrave's stock, bribes labor agitators to create turmoil in Hargrave's plant. Hargrave discovers the plot, foils the scheme and discovers Irene's disloyalty. Although stricken with blindness because of the agitation in his life, Hargrave finds true love with his secretary, Margaret Carlisle. Once his sight is restored, he marries Margaret.
An outlaw named Duane ( Tom Mix ), captured by the Texas Rangers, is promised a pardon if he rounds up a gang of cattle thieves. The man he suspects as the leader is revealed to be the father of Duane's sweetheart, Helen ( Billie Dove ). Duane captures the gang, gets a pardon for Helen's father, and marries Helen.
A ranch owner runs afoul of a land grabber, and both of them are in love with the same girl, the daughter of a railroad owner.
On a treasure hunt in the tropics, adventurer Mortimer Gregg discovers beautiful Horse Island, and upon his return to New York, forms a partnership with Christopher Beaumont, allegedly to develop the island's resources. Just before his death, however, Gregg reveals to his assistant manager, David Smith, that the Tropical Products Company was formed for the sole purpose of swindling the stockholders. A highly principled man who believes in the island's potential, David refuses to tamper with the company's financial reports, which so angers Beaumont that he visits Horse Island to deliver David an ultimatum.
At a wild surprise party John Hammond signs a note for his struggling friend, architect Richard Burton, but later denies his presence at the affair in order to preserve his reputation.
Sheriff Pat Halahan comes into an inheritance and travels to San Francisco to collect. Faith O’Day, a cat burglar armed with pistol and flashlight breaks into his hotel room and demands that Halahan cough up his dough. Halahan sees her threat and raises her a one-dollar bet that he can return a brooch she stole earlier the same evening before its loss is discovered. Pulling off his boots to slip on his own “soft shoes,” Halahan sets off to do a little second-story work, not realizing the trouble he’s in for.
Richard Talmadge plays John Drake, a safe expert who gets work managing a safe company in South America. On the way to his new job, he gets into a fight with Dynamite Diaz (Dick Sutherland), a prize fighter who thinks that Drake has flirted with his wife (Peggy Shaw). Drake has found love on board, but it's with Dolores D'Arcy (Lorraine Eason), the daughter of a banker (Charles Hill Mailes). Once he lands in South America, however, he discovers the job was a fake and is robbed of his money and passport.
A tramp enters a cabaret and orders a drink, but then is thrown out when he cannot pay for it. After trying again, he is told by the manager that if he wants to avoid being charged and sent to jail, he will have to work.
Lucy Hegan, the proprietor of a settlement house for the poor, is engaged to Hugh Gordon, the head of a large pharmaceutical and chemical firm who, unknown to Lucy, is also the ringleader of a powerful drug and white slave operation in the Chinese quarter.
Charlie stays at a seaside lodging house frequented by sailors. He gets involved with a gang of crooks when a sea captain attempts to kidnap his landlady's daughter.
