Acting
France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.
Elderly Jeremy Ellsworth decides to settle his fortune on John and Beatrice, the children of his disinherited son. He sends a message for them to come live with him. Beatrice arrives safely, but James Gault, Ellsworth's secretary, intercepts the letter to John and engages Phil Carter to pose as the heir. Lumber camp foreman John hears of the plot and heads to the Ellsworth home to squash it but is overpowered by thugs who also kidnap Beatrice. Escaping his captors, John rescues his sister from a speedboat with the aid of a hydroplane and finds love with Beatrice's governess.
While visiting New York, Ogden Fenn finds himself charmed with Diana Manners, wife of Frank Manners, an architect who is away on business in San Francisco, and they become involved. The husband returns unexpectedly and learns that his wife loves Fenn. When Diana and Fenn go to the latter's cabin near New York, Mrs. Hastings, who though married loves Frank, persuades him not to interfere because of the effects on his child. Mr. Hastings, learning of his wife's own infidelity, motors to the cabin, forces Fenn into his car, and drives the vehicle over a steep embankment.
Donald Wallace is a self-centered scientist who believes only in science and ignores the love of his cousin, Truth Eldridge, choosing instead to pursue Paula Roberts. Wallace and others take care of a lost little girl named Peggy, but he stubbornly tells her that God does not exist. James Dale, an assistant who secretly admires Truth and tries to poison Wallace, accidentally kills Peggy instead. Following her death, Truth returns to Wallace in spirit form to prove to him that God and an afterlife are real.
Pied Piper Malone (1924)
