Writing
The quiet life style of Ruth Heck and her brother Lem, who belong to a religious sect called the Seekers, is disrupted when a judge imprisons Lem for a crime he did not commit.
Pidetta, a notorious French woman and leader of one of Paris' worst gangs of crooks, lives in a beautiful chateau which contains an underground palace. She reads in the papers of the arrival at the best hotel of Betty Hoffman, her mother and fiancé, an American millionaire. She decides to make Betty her next victim... .
New England fisherman Dan McQuade finds a dying woman and her daughter shipwrecked after a storm and raises the daughter, whom he names Coral. After Dan reveals how he found her, Coral, who secretly builds sand sculptures, creates a life-size statue of a mother and baby. Wealthy artist Philip Norton and his self-centered bride Helen come on their honeymoon to the bay where Dan and Coral live. Coral, awed by Philip's talent, gives him a statue and they begin a friendship, which provokes Helen's jealousy. When Dan dies, Philip brings Coral to his parents' home in New York, where Helen plots to have her suspected of stealing a diamond.
Mrs. Martin lives in New York's East Side with her son, Dan, who sells papers, and her daughter, Jenny, who works in a local doughnut shop. During the summer, Mrs. Martin becomes ill, and a trip away from the city is recommended; unable to finance such an undertaking, Jenny converts the backyard into a blooming garden, and in the outdoor activity thus provided her mother recovers.
Gloria Vane (Claire Windsor), a shrewish, vain young debutante turned fashion model drags her dying lover, Victor Redding (Reed Howes), ten miles to the nearest settlement in the Canadian wilderness, saves his life and is transformed. How they got from New York City to the Canadian wilds is another story.
Hardworking reporter Phyllis Dale has been hiding a seventeen year old secret. But when her wild daughter Bobby is removed from boarding school, it looks like the secret is out. That is, until Bobby introduces herself as the little sister to Phyllis' fiancé Lawrence and boss Roger. Yet Bobby is bound to cause mischief by flirting with everyone. And when she draws the attention of a philandering divorcee, she is bound for scandal! Will Phyllis be able to keep wild Bobby out of the Headlines?
Peter Olsen, a young social outcast who lives alone on a rundown farm and raises vegetables for a living, finds his only consolation in liquor, though Dorcas Chatham, daughter of the general store owner, begs him to forego this indulgence. Returning from town, he finds a dog by the roadside, apparently injured by a car, and takes it home. Later, on a drunken spree, Peter is attacked by robbers, but the dog comes to his rescue and frightens the assailants away. Stirred by the unselfish devotion of his dog, Peter gradually regains his self-respect, and Dorcas falls in love with him and accepts his proposal, though she fears the dog. When Peter enters the dog in a show, another exhibitor proves to be its owner, and Peter is first parted from, then reunited with, "his" dog. Dorcas overcomes her fear and is united with Peter.
An artist in England is torn between an old flame and the now grown up little girl he has adopted.
Conrad Warrener, a man of near middle-age, reflects nostalgically on the happy times of his youth and decides to recapture them. However, what he learns about the "second time around" is neither what he expected nor what he hoped for.
Medical intern Robert Morley is distraught after his wife dies in childbirth. He's resentful of his new son and wants nothing to do with him. He leaves the child with his aunt and uncle and heads off to Europe to pursue his medical studies. Morley returns to his hometown six years later, now a successful doctor and engaged to be married to a beautiful socialite. He also feels differently about the boy and attempts to gain custody from his aunt and uncle.
Maud and Cecil have been in love since they were children in the pre-Civil War South, but Howard, Maud's domineering brother, disapproves of a marriage between them. Instead, he has chosen English nobleman Lord Lovelace as the ideal fiancé for Maud. On the night that the engagement is to be announced, however, she elopes with Cecil. The runaways are caught, though, after which, because of her loyalty to her brother, Maud sends Cecil away. When the Civil War begins, Howard, Lovelace and Cecil all volunteer, and are all soon reported killed in action. Heartbroken, Maud decides to become a nun, and takes her vows just moments before Cecil, whose death was mistakenly reported, returns from the battlefield and comes to the convent to ask her to marry him.
Gloria, the daughter in a wealthy family, has finally spent most of her father's money. She marries Tony, whose as much of a reckless spendthrift as she is, and they continue indulging themselves. Tony's wealthy grandfather Adam Patch dies, but to their surprise he leaves Tony nothing. The couple try their hands at actually working for a living, but they don't like it and return to their spendthrift ways. Something has to give, and it soon does.
Maud Barhyte visits Paris with her fiancé, Gerald Welden, and her father. Sally Malakoff, Welden's childhood sweetheart whose marriage to the Duke Malakoff was arranged by her ambitious and title-hungry mother, entertains the three as her guests. By a series of misunderstandings Sally disrupts relations between Welden and his fiancée, causing Maud to return to America. Sally divorces the duke, and Welden, thinking Maud no longer loves him, marries Sally.
Neglected by shallow husband Dick, young bride Paula Wayne seeks male companionship outside the marital nest. She soon finds it in the form of mature lover Frank Gordon. Lost film.
Ottilie Van Zandt is forced to wed her cousin, despite her love for Richard Wayne, the gardener's son. Richard leaves, vowing to return a wealthy man and eligible suitor for her. He returns to find she has already married and, in turn, marries another girl on impulse. Two generations later, the grandchildren of Ottilie and Richard, who both have inherited their names as well, meet and develop a close friendship that culminates in the romance that their grandparents began but could not consummate years before.
A socialite couple thinks only of themselves. When they become bored with one another, they divorce and marry others (several times). The person who suffers most from their cavalier outlook on life is their cute little daughter Mary Jane Irving.
Alick Wylie agrees to give railroad porter John Shand $300 to help him secure his education and political ambitions on condition that his daughter Maggie has the option of marrying him within five years. Though not in love they marry, and John becomes successful, thanks to Maggie’s input on his speeches, in time being elected to Parliament. Eventually John strays with Lady Sybil and Maggie diplomatically arranges for them to be together. However his next speech without her assistance is a failure and Sybil leaves him out of boredom, it’s then he sees Maggie’s true worth.
Jack Straw (Warwick) is an iceman who becomes a waiter to be closer to the girl (McComas) he is interested in. Later, to impress her, he impersonates an Archduke from Pomerania. A Count from Pomerania (Brower) who is the ambassador arrives and learns of the long-missing son of royalty. The girl's mother (Ashton) learns of the trick being played by Jack. Just when Jack is exposed as being a fraud, it turns out that he is the genuine article.
After his mining partner Joe Pelton's death, wealthy bachelor Richard Chester adopts Joe's five young children and takes them East by train. The children are hellions upsetting the calm of the Pullman car en route to New York City, and his home upon arrival. Richard enrolls them all in school except for the youngest. His frosty society fiancée Ethel McVae refuses to have anything to do with the children. After seeing how Richard interacts with his stenographer Sally Lockwood when she helps him nurse the youngest child through a night's illness Ethel breaks the engagement. Richard declares his love for Sally, and they join to raise a family.
Vaudeville artist LaBelle Geraldine and her dancing partner, Freddie Montgomery, are stranded in Arizona when their troupe breaks up. In order to raise money, Geraldine orders Freddie to impersonate masked bandit Black Jim so that she may turn him in and collect the $2,000 reward. When the real Black Jim holds up her coach, Geraldine, believing that he is Freddie, boldly pulls out her gun, whereupon the bandit shoots her in the wrist and takes her to his cabin. Later Freddie, too, is captured, but when members of the gang insult Geraldine, he refuses to protect her. Gradually Black Jim falls in love with her, and she comes to admire him so deeply that instead of seizing a chance to escape one night, she returns to warn him of the gang's plot to kill him.