In Self Defence

In the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the Young Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie leads an insurrection to overthrow the Protestant House of Hanover and restore his family, the Catholic branch of the House of Stuart, to the British throne.

An assassinated Lord's daughter refuses to marry a Chinese prince but agrees to be his mistress.

Montgomery Seaton, one of the idle rich, pays more attention to his friends' business than to his marital situation.

Rethna works hard to organize her fellow factory employees against the miserly, uncaring owner, Henry Burke. Then, realizing that she needs money to fight Burke, she begins an affair with his unscrupulous son Harry.

Linnie Carter, a cabaret entertainer, struggles to remain innocent in the midst of the fast life. Harry Sullivan, a gangster, becomes attentive to Linnie and asks her to marry him and, believing that his intentions are sincere, she accepts. When Linnie's friend Irma Wood and her husband Billy, who plays a clown in a cabaret act, discover that Harry has no intention of marrying Linnie and that Linnie is in danger, they rescue her from a phony marriage ceremony and force her to face the truth about Harry.

After political boss Tim Noland adopts Roy, the infant son of a dead crony, he reluctantly gives the boy up to a doctor who claims that, if raised in an respectable environment, the child will grow into a model citizen. Twenty years later, Roy comes back to live with Tim, and is appalled at his unscrupulous methods of conducting business. Then, he falls in love with Enid Winslow, the daughter of a social reformer who is running for office against Tim. Largely due to Roy's financial support, Winslow wins the election, but, holding a grudge against Tim and anyone connected to him, he refuses to let Enid marry Roy.

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.

A blackmailed ex-thief is executed for a murder he didn't commit.

George Bell, a wild young man, lives with his rancher father, Thomas Bell, in Paradise Valley, California. When George sells his father's favorite horse, Mr. Bell turns him out, and George becomes a grain salesman in St. Louis. Meanwhile, Polly Martin lives with her father Bill, an ex-businessman who has sunk to day-labor because of his addiction to alcohol. Bill frequently abuses Polly, and when he falls to his death from a high girder, Polly becomes a nurse in the Salvation Army in St. Louis. George falls in love with Polly after he saves her from the advances of a drunk, but she will not marry him because of his wild past.

In 1869, enemies of railroad magnate Richard Strong attempt to ruin him. Richard thwarts them, largely through the help of Charles Dalton, but then Charles tries to seduce Elinor, Richard's wife. Although she rebuffs Charles, Richard accuses her of infidelity, so Elinor leaves him and goes to Paris. Richard follows her, but, caught in the middle of the 1870 riots, he cannot get near her. Charles, also in Paris, finally convinces Richard that nothing had come of his interest in Elinor, but Richard now believes that Elinor no longer loves him.

While working in China for Nathan Goldberg, a New York Jewish importer, Chattfield Bruce comes to admire the Robin Hood philosophy of Wong Lee, who gives to the poor all the food, clothing and money that he steals from the rich. After Chattfield informs Wong Lee of a betrayal among his gang, Wong Lee gives him a ring that is guaranteed to give the wearer the allegiance of any Chinese throughout the world.

Although Kenneth Carmont and Esther Saunders, criminal Bert Saunders' sister, love each other, Esther marries detective Elwood Collins, who agrees to stop pursuing Bert if she accepts his proposal. One night, Kenneth and Esther hide Bert, who has escaped from the police. The same night, Kenneth's father is murdered. The evidence implicates Kenneth, who cannot supply his whereabouts at the time of the crime, as that would give away Bert. Esther cannot clear Kenneth for the same reason, and because it would let her husband know that she was with her former sweetheart.

After watching her mother die gradually from a broken heart, Roberta, an illegitimate child, decides to seek vengeance from her father Bradley, who ran away before she was born. Bradley is wealthy now, and so Roberta secures a job as his secretary and schemes to ruin his financial empire.

Finding himself penniless, Lawrence Ashmore, whose late father was ruined on the stock exchange, obtains a position as a reporter. Ashmore is assigned to investigate the reported fatal illness of Jesse Craven, one of Wall Street's financial monarchs.

For Nita Valyez, who is half-Spanish and half-Irish, Carlos represents potential violence and danger, two things to which she is both attracted and repelled. In contrast, she has only a passing interest in Big Jim, the town's honest, good-hearted sheriff. Then, after Carlos kills a faro dealer, he forces Nita to make an escape with him.