Lisetta, the daughter of a fisherman, lives with her father and brother on the island of Capri. When Serrani, an Italian who has grown wealthy in New York, visits the island, he induces Lisetta to accompany him to America. There he abandons her and she becomes a dancer in an underworld café owned by "Dago" Joe, where she meets the artist Stanford Graham, who employs her as a model. Meanwhile, Lisetta's brother Domenic comes to New York to avenge his sister's dishonor.
After his defeat at the hands of "Spider" Flynn, the welterweight champion of Europe, boxer Jimmie Dolan and his trainer, Thomas Jefferson Jones, leave for a principality near Paris. Having lost all their money on the fight, Jimmie accepts Count Conrad's offer to impersonate Prince Frederick in return for a large sum of money.
From a Montana mining camp, a young man progresses to the society heights of New York, making his mark publicly as a dancer, but secretly as a gentleman burglar.
Robert "Bob" Wesley horrifies his father, Admiral John Wesley of the Naval Advisory Board, by failing his examination at the Annapolis naval academy. Bob seizes the chance to redeem himself, however, when he overhears Hanson, the butler, plotting with German agent Count Von Ornstorff to deliver his father's plans for the Atlantic coastal defenses to German Baroness Von Hulda. In Baltimore, Bob meets the baroness' ship and, with the aid of an old college professor, makes her his prisoner. Having impersonated a woman in the college play, Bob disguises himself as the baroness, rendezvous with the spies, and obtains the plans.
The TARDIS materialises not far from Paris in 1794 — one of the bloodiest years following the French Revolution of 1789. The travellers become involved with an escape chain rescuing prisoners from the guillotine and get caught up in the machinations of an English undercover spy, James Stirling — alias Lemaitre, governor of the Conciergerie prison.
A respectable Paris jeweller becomes engaged to a celebrated performer of the Montmartre cafes.
Richard Gordon is an aspiring composer who can't get arrested in his field of endeavor. Upon meeting nightclub singer Mary Talbot, Gordon is inspired to write his greatest melody. The song catches the ear of impresario George Monroe and before long Gordon has scaled the heights of fame and fortune. Mary despairs that she's been forgotten.
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
In a jewelry store, Grace Norris, a wealthy girl, unnoticed by the salesman, absent-mindedly takes a vanity case. She is seen by Fred Wright, who thinks she stole it.
Humanitarian Roberta induces her father to hire former convict, Bill, as his gardener. When she leaves on vacation, Bill steals her jewelry and eventually sells a brooch to her boyfriend, Richard, who unknowingly gives it to her as a present.
Born with an artistic temperament, Joe Leigh feels keenly the bitterness and drudgery of life on a small farm and longs to get away from it. Jabez, his uncle, who owns the farm, is a hard, matter-of-fact man, utterly out of sympathy with his nephew's ambitions.