Ben Jordan runs away after accidentally setting fire to a barn in his small New England community. He returns when his mother dies to find that she has left everything to her ward, Jane Crosby.
Heiress Mary Anderson feigns poverty during her romance with struggling artist Bruce Haldeman, however her status-conscious mother puts an end to the affair. Mary secretly goes to Bruce's studio, misconstrues the situation with one of his models and tells Bruce she hates him. Upset Bruce wants to destroy his portrait of Mary, but the model stops him, enters the painting in an art contest, and explains the mix-up to Mary's father. Mr. Anderson then meets with Bruce and Mary's persistent suitor Smythe Addison pretending he has lost his fortune. Smythe quickly drops out of contention for Mary's hand, but Bruce remains eager. Resolving their differences Bruce finds out during the planning of the wedding that he has won the art contest, finding overnight fame as a painter.
Suspected of smuggling, Eileen Caverly boards the Connecticut Limited where she befriends Helen Raymond who is traveling with her new husband Bob Guerton. Helen confides they had recently married impulsively, the service performed by a justice of the peace. Shortly after their talk the train is wrecked, Helen is killed and Bob injured. Seizing the opportunity Eileen poses as Bob's wife to avoid capture. Bob’s mother visits him, learning that they were married by a Justice of the Peace, insists they be married by a minister. Bob becomes successful with Eileen’s support, and they have a son. All is well until Cromwel Crow, who knows of Eileen's past, is released from jail. Demanding $5000 for his silence they struggle, Bob enters and in the ensuing fight, Crow is killed. Eileen's secret dies with her adversary, freeing her to continue her life.
What must a man do in order to put an end to his bachelorhood? For George Finch, one of nature's white mice and probably the worst artist ever to put brush to canvas, there are many obstacles. Undoubtedly the greatest is his beloved Molly's fearsome stepmother, Mrs. Waddington, who has her eye on an eligible English lord for a son-in-law. Luckily, George has an ally in sharp-witted Hamilton Beamish, an old family friend of the Waddingtons, not to mention George's butler, Mullett, and his light-fingered girlfriend, Fanny, whose valuable skills are of particular interest to the would-be father-in-law.
Irked by the success of a brassy nightclub owner. her rivals set out to drive her out of business, and frame her for a murder in the bargain.
A colonel saves a prince's life when he joins a club of men who draw lots to kill one another.
Young Virgie's father, Captain Herbert Cary, is a Confederate soldier. During the Civil War, Virgie, along with her slave Uncle Billy and her mother, are caught between the lines. While Virgie's father is fighting, her family is visited by Union soldiers, including Colonel Morrison, who is assigned to capture her father. Virgie inadvertently helps Morrison, by singing "Dixie" to him and then hiding her father. In the end, Virgie and her father are able to escape, and Virgie even sings "Polly Wolly Doodle" with the Union soldiers and hugs her father, now a Union officer,
A Greek man falls for an injured French woman. When he is informed of her death, he continues to sing under her hospital window every night.
During World War I, Jane Whiting, a bright young lawyer who is engaged to Senator Wheeler, is assigned by the district attorney to expose a gang of spies who are collecting money for the German government through the operation of a fraudulent charity organization. Wheeler's son Frank has fallen in love with Lola Schram, whose pro-German mother is forcing the girl to work for Frederick Kube, the head of the spy ring, but when Kube learns of the romance, he orders Mrs. Schram to break it off. When Lola finally confesses her activities to Frank, Kube kills her and then frames Frank for the murder. Meanwhile, Jane, through the help of Jimmy and Tilly Ware, has discovered Kube's headquarters and modus operandi