Mortmain

George Darrel presents Helen Gray, his fiancée, with a very valuable engagement ring of antique design, which is an heirloom. They have a serious quarrel over Dave Brower, one of her friends, and Darrel leaves for the west.

On account of an urgent business call, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie hurriedly close their summer home at Hudsoncliff and leave with their daughter, Jane, for the city. Bob, their son, decides to visit his parents at Hudsoncliff with his friend, Ralph Lyons. Bob and Ralph find the house locked up and, after some reconnoitering, enter through a window. Ralph hurts his ankle and is unable to attend a dance that evening, so Bob goes instead. Jane, on her arrival in the city, finds she has left her necklace in the safe at their summer home, and leaves a note for her mother, saying she is going back for it.

At a party thrown by millionaire Max Goldberg, Charles Howard, an aristocratic young artist, succumbs to the charms of chorus girl Lita O'Farrell, Goldberg's erstwhile girl friend. After a whirlwind courtship, the two marry and then their incompatibilities begin to surface.

Glory Moore, a young girl, finds herself left unprovided for after her father's death, as the farm has to be sold to pay his debts.

Jan Saxe and Peter Harlingen, two young men from Holland, arrive in America with little orphan Bertha Kruger whom they have befriended during the trip and whom they both love. Bertha has come to live with her blind Aunt Sophie, and when Jan secretly raises $500 for an operation to restore her aunt's sight, Bertha marries Peter, believing that he was the donor of the "secret gift."

Irresponsible Billy Thorpe is sent to South America by his financée Claire's father, George Vincent, the rubber king, in order to reform.

The two sons of Judge Stone, William and Wylie, are both in love with Nancy Sevier. Wylie is of a jealous temperament and believes he sees in Nancy's acceptance of his brother's attentions a proof of her preference for him. William monopolizes Nancy until Wylie is almost beside himself with rage and jealousy.

Betty, the only daughter of Jenkins, a wealthy farmer, is secretly loved by Tom Saunders, a farm hand. Tom's scapegrace brother, Dick, returns from the city and is befriended by Tom. Dick later wins Betty's love. While Jenkins is blasting out a tree stump with dynamite, Betty and Dick are passing close by unnoticed, and the explosion destroys Betty's sight.

In the poor Italian quarter of New York lives Luigi, an Italian peasant and inventor, who is so absorbed in his work that he greatly neglects his wife, Nedda. She is younger than he and fond of pleasure. Not understanding his neglect, she strongly resents it.

Promising to send for his sweetheart Roza, when he gets settled, Hugo Hunfalvy leaves Hungary for America. In New York he meets Louis Kaplan, an old friend, who owns a fruit store. Louis' sister, Marie, is pretty and flirtatious, and is much impressed by Hugo. He soon falls under the influence of her wiles and buys part interest in Louis' store.

Therese Roger, daughter of a West Indian planter, whose parents are murdered while she is a baby, becomes the adopted daughter of her aunt, Madame Roger, keeper of a haberdashery shop in one of the smaller villages in southern France. She grows up with Camille, Madame Roger's son, a sickly, sexless creature, whom she ultimately marries in deference to her aunt's wishes.

Stranded in the small town of Buckeye Junction young actress Madge Joy crawls upon a load of hay and falls asleep. Knocked unconscious when young farmer Robert Deep hitches up the wagon not realizing she’s inside she awakes in the Deep living room. "Ma" Deep takes to her at once, but old “Pa” Deep looks at her sternly. Claiming to be a runaway orphan rather than an actress she becomes a member of the family. Falling for Madge Robert confesses he dreams of being a playwright, that night his sister Susan, who has run away to be an actress, reappears. Pa Deep is furious when he finds out his daughter has been on the stage, but Madge reveals that she is herself an actress threatening to go away with Robert unless he makes up with his daughter. Eventually Madge finds fame in New York with Robert following with a play he knows is right.

A son tries to overturn the disgrace of his father, who committed suicide.

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.

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