During the Easter Carnival, Dolores de Cordova flirts with Juan Estudillo, not knowing that he is a member of the family with whom her ancestors have long feuded. Dolores' cousin, Pedro Toral, jealous of her attentions to Juan, kills her brother that night and after leaving Juan's handkerchief by the body, makes Dolores swear to avenge the death with her own hands....
Theatrical manager Isaac Shuman has a reputation for "taking advantage" of young girls who want to become stars on Broadway. Reporter Tom Warder investigates these stories and exposes Shuman in his newspaper.
Ivan Mussak, the head of the Russian secret police, is responsible for the murders of thousands of Jews and the forced exile of thousands more. Isaac Gruenstein and his infant daughter Miriam are the only members of his family to survive one of Mussak's massacres, and Isaac is exiled to Siberia. Miriam, however, becomes Mussak's ward and is raised by nuns in a convent. Eighteen years later Isaac dies in Siberia, but before he does he writes a note to his daughter and gives it to fellow prisoner Rachel Shapiro, who manages to escape and, by chance, finds Miriam. However, circumstances have changed in the past 18 years-and Miriam is now Mussak's mistress.
Twenty-one-year-old Harry Tremaine has perfected an airplane motor which he hopes will make his fortune a dream he shares with his fiancée, Alice. One night Harry receives word that his father, who has been leading a hermit's life out West, has suddenly died. He discovers through his miserly ways his father left him a fortune of $200,000. Flush with his new wealth Harry becomes ensnared by Betty Belgrave, a cabaret entertainer, and her dancing partner, Wilbur Lorimer and it not long before he has squandered his money. Though desperate when he sees a young girl in danger of drowning, Harry rescues her, and her grateful millionaire father provides the capital to make Harry’s airplane motor a reality. Alice and he are married while Betty becomes a derelict.
The Talbots, formerly one of the Eastern Shore's first families, have gone to seed: Pap is a drunk, soddenly decaying in his ruined ancestral home, and three of his sons (William, Carol, and Ezra) are lazy, shiftless young men. Mulligan, Pap's second son who supports the entire family by oyster fishing, falls in love with wealthy Anna Lee, but when he first kisses her, she calls him "white trash."
Lucille Vale is in love with struggling architect Paul Arden, but her mother believes that Allen Granat is a more suitable match. Lucille's mother prevails, and Lucille leaves Paul a note in their secret hiding place saying that she is going to marry Allen. Paul is injured when thrown from a horse and does not receive the note. He is nursed back to health in the home of entomologist Thomas Wiggan, whose son Johnnie is in love with Marion Vale, Lucille's younger sister. Two years later, Lucille and Allen return to the estate, very much in love, and engage Paul's services. The note is found, still waiting in the secret hiding place. After many complications, and with the help of her friend Suzanne Russell, Lucille recovers the possibly incriminating note.
Kid Kelly, a gangster in New York's Lower East Side, attempts to rob Goldberg's millinery store. When the police arrive, Flo Haines, who had come to the building to look at an apartment, hides. When the police find her, they charge her with the crime, but the Kid turns himself over to the law instead. After his release, he again meets Flo, who works in an artificial-flower factory by day and at Reverend Roberts' relief mission by night. The Kid soon falls in love with Flo, and his jealous sweetheart Mamie tricks her into coming to her apartment, where she drugs her and turns her over to Joe Carelli, the flower factory's lustful owner. The Kid saves Flo, but when Carelli is found murdered the next day, he is arrested for the crime. The confession of Annie, who had stabbed Carelli in a jealous rage, frees The Kid, who reforms himself and marries Flo.
Heading to America after finding themselves destitute following their father's death, Charles de la Fontaine, the Marquis d'Aubeterre and his sister Helen secures a position in the home of Lathrop, a millionaire thanks to the Countess d'Este. He instantly falls in love with Lathrop's pretty daughter Marian, but she fears he is a fortune hunter and becomes engaged to the wealthy Rudolph Miller. Charles tells her he would only marry her when the two are equally wealthy. Charles then secretly backs Marian's brother Frank in a successful financial venture, making both rich. Discovering Rudolph is unfaithful and with the "golden wall" of wealth that had separated them now obliterated, Marian and Charles wed.