The House Built Upon Sand

This part-talkie (17 minutes of dialogue in its 83-minute running time) tells the tale of Christina, the daughter of Dutch toymaker Niklaas. Much to her dad's dismay, Christina falls in love with sideshow huckster Jan. Likewise disapproving of the romance is Jan's jealous employer Mme. Bosman, who frames the young man on an embezzlement charge.

A young girl is kept ignorant of her mother by her aunt. After her aunt dies, the girl is used by crooks and arrested. In prison she meets a kindly woman, who is married to a judge. The woman, unbeknownst to the girl, is her mother, and adopts her. The companion of the deceased aunt, in the midst of a ball, denounces the mother and reveals her secret to the judge and guests. The judge will not forgive his wife, so the mother and daughter leave and work among the slums to benefit humanity. Eventually, the judge relents, and seeks his wife for forgiveness, but he is too late.

Unscrupulous gambler and drug addict Dunstan Leech has embezzled money entrusted to him. Hoping to cover the theft he plans to wed his mother’s ward Kate Heathcote, who is tutor to his disabled brother Cecil, only to discover she loves Richard Blunt. Unhinged, due to his drug use, he poisons his brother’s food to clear the way to an inheritance while his equally dishonest mother Mrs. Jelf attempts to frame Blunt for theft. That plan fails and Kate & Richard marry departing for the diamond mines of South Africa. Obsessed, Leech follows and kidnaps Kate and the couple’s child fleeing back to England pursued by Richard. Held hostage at Leech’s estate, his dying mother gives Kate the evidence to prove Dunstan’s culpability in Cecil’s slaying but driven mad with guilt and haunted by Cecil’s spirit he commits suicide, and the young family are reunited.

Although laborer Joe Mercer loves factory girl Katinka Jenkins, she agrees to become the mistress of Lindsay, the mill owner, in order to escape dire poverty and cruel parents. Katinka sends Lindsay's money to her family, but eventually, he finds himself unable to pay his employees, and only under Joe's influence are the men prevented from striking. Reformer John Strong, who loves Katinka's sister Olivia, visits Katinka to request that she cease her disgraceful dance performances, but he soon submits to her charms and is passionately embracing her when Olivia enters the room. Katinka then learns of the situation at the mill and realizes that the compromise of her honor has ruined more lives than her own.

Having been misinformed that all French girls are morally suspect, American soldier David Kendall (Edwin August) is in for quite a shock when he's shipped Over There. After meeting several "nice" Frenchwomen, David returns to the states with a whole new perspective on things. It isn't long before he falls in love with Nenette (Carmel Myers), the daughter of French-born restaurateur Armande Bisson (Andrew Robson). But when Nenette is implicated in a murder, the disillusioned David instantly repudiates her - and by extension, all Daughters of France.

Upon hearing about a woman dubbed The Huntress because of her wild attention craving ways, Fleming Harcourt decides he can domesticate her and they marry. He takes her to settle down in a mining town, however she soon becomes bored and returns to the city and her lavish parties with plenty of adoring male admirers. Fleming decides to make her jealous by flirting with other women. When the Huntress hears the rumors of his affairs, she soon realizes her one true love is Fleming, and they are happily reunited.

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.

After divorcing his first wife and marrying a more gentle natured woman, Ralph Hadley finds himself again attracted to his ex-wife, a shrewd business woman. Trouble begins when he foolishly invites her to lunch, setting gossipy tongues-wagging. The news reaches his devoted wife who has discovered she is pregnant.

Very wealthy Bettina is also very reluctant to get married. She changes her mind in a hurry when she meets Reynaud, the nephew of Abbe Constantin, the poverty-stricken religious leader of the small French village of Longueval.

Gabrielle Picard (Elda Hall) and Pierre Dupont (Rupert Julian) are lovers in a small French village in the early 1870s; Gabrielle's brother Anatole (Kingsley Benedict) is Pierre's best friend. The two young men are called to service by their country and go to Algiers. Anatole becomes the bugler and one day when he is commanded to sound the retreat, he sounds for the troops to charge instead. Anatole becomes a hero because of his action, but when the two men make their victorious return home, they find the Picard home ransacked and Gabrielle gone.

Olaf writes his memoirs, before his execution. He tells of his life as a struggling farmer when Renie, stranded in the village, stays one night in his home and Olaf falls in love with her.