The Pretenders

In a small town in Indiana in the 1890s, the domineering and ambitious Mrs. Biddle arranges a marriage between her spoiled daughter Thelma and the town's prize catch, harvester David Langston, who is wedded to the soil. David is friends with orphan Ruth Jameson and, although she is in love with him, he eventually gives in to the machinations of Mrs. Biddle and consents to marry Thelma. Meanwhile, technological advances come to town, including its first gasoline buggy, galvanic battery, and metal bathtub fitted with running water. When Mrs. Biddle tries to convince David to give up the farming life and join her husband in real estate, Mr. Biddle, hen-pecked and dissatisfied with city life, warns David against selling his farm.

Bud Walton, the village blacksmith, is big and strong physically, but he has not the courage to put his strength to good purpose. All the boys take a slap at him whenever they choose, and Bud makes no attempt to retaliate. This causes his sweetheart, June, to despise him.

Tom Wells is dissatisfied with his lot in life. Wondering aloud whether he'd be happier if things were different, he soon gets his chance to find out. The rest of the story is an extension on the old proverb which begins "Be careful what you wish for."

Billy Milford, Harvard graduate, goes west to seek his fortune. In Addertown he secures a position as stationmaster of the L. & R. Railroad, but is forced out because of his drinking habits. He accidentally meets Gunhild, an emigrant Norwegian girl, as she arrives in Addertown to take up her home with Jan Hagsberg, the town's saloonkeeper. Seeking revenge on the railroad, Milford joins Jim Dorsey in a scheme to hold up the road's paymaster on his way to pay the employees of the company's mine.

As baby-faced chorine "Pat" O'Brien, the star protects her virtue against various and sundry stage-door Johnnies and sugar daddies. Implicated in a crime, Pat is pursued by detective Danny Mallory, who of course eventually falls in love with her and seeks to prove her innocence.

Peggy Ainslee, the daughter of a wealthy broker, tires of the empty life of society, and determines on a mission of charity and uplift in the poor quarters of New York City

Owing to his father's illness, Cecil Crenwell is sent to inspect the family rice plantation in Hawaii. While there he falls in love with Hawai'ian girl Uana and wins her away from her native beau Kau.

Ironworker Ned is putting money aside for a rainy day unlike his two sandhog co-workers Bill and Grogan who spend most of their money at the saloon. One day on the job Ned is saved from severe injury by Bill and Grogan tries to convince him to take advantage of Ned’s gratitude to extort some money. Later Ned and Grogan get into an argument and Grogan sworn to revenge attempts to get Bill to drown Ned, but the plan goes awry. Bill and Ned reconcile, eventually becoming business partners, Grogan goes to jail.

In a small town in Virginia, Faith Corey, daughter of a socially prominent family, meets and falls in love with Jerry Malone, a prizefighter, though her straitlaced mother wants her to marry Siegfried, a spellbinding "missionary reformer." Though Grandma Corey promotes the romance with the prizefighter, Mike, the fighter's hardboiled, wisecracking manager, tries to keep them apart; following a quarrel, Faith reconciles herself to marrying Siegfried, but when he invites a group of "weak sisters" to a revival meeting, he is disgraced when one accuses him of her downfall. Finally, with Mike's advice, Jerry wins back Faith and they are united with the family's blessings.

Theron is Lavina's natural choice, though she imagines herself in love with Luke, who is secretly loved by Lavina's sister, Susan. Susan sees that the couple are ill-suited to each other and adopts her own means to break the match. She is successful, but it is not until all have passed through a stirring and leavening experience that each couple realizes they were meant for each other.

Hard as nails and as strong winded as a gale in March, Red Hicks may have been a bit "chesty," but he was in perfect trim. The town depended on the champion, O'Shea, the fighting Irishman, to make soft putty of the world famous pugilist, but on the day of the fight there was no O'Shea. The supposition was he did not have the price: and other domestic difficulties interfered. O'Shea's trainer, however, solved the problem and Bed Hicks found his Waterloo.