A widow's husband returns after her second marriage, and dies while assaulting her.

Theda Bara's vamping is at its most evil here. She plays the Russian Princess Petrovitch, who loves only her pearls. Her husband, the Prince (E.F. Roseman), sells state secrets to a spy to pay her exorbitant bills, and her response is to report him to the secret police. Then she runs off to Monte Carlo with her lover, Count Zerstoff (Emil deVarney), but she poisons him after he racks up a load of gambling losses.

Vere Herbert lives with her wicked mother, Lady Dolly (Marie Curtis), who is living in sin with Lord Jura (Glen White). Although Vere is in love with an opera singer, Lucien Correze (Harry Hilliard), Lady Dolly convinces her that marrying the dissolute Prince Zouroff (Walter Law) will save her father's honor. But the Prince makes her miserable and insists on having his mistress, Jeanne deSonnaz (Caille Torrez), live with them.

Young Edmond Durand (Conrad Nagel) has been reared under the autocratic influence of his aunt (Marcia Manon), who directs a large silk mill in southern France. He revolts against a stifling career planned for him and leaves home with Marcelle, a Gypsy girl (Renée Adorée). They roam the countryside with a Gypsy caravan in romantic bliss; they are inadvertently separated but at the outbreak of war are reunited. When peace is restored, the lovers find happiness together.

A doctor's wife is arrested for educating impoverished women about birth control.

In this film, African-American Leroy Collins struggles with the onus placed on him by Society when he falls in love with a white woman.

Theda Bara does her usual vamp turn in this picture, but this time she's a vamp who turns out to have a heart of gold. Her character, Blanchette DuMonde, is known as "the wickedest woman in Paris," and because of this sordid reputation, she is not allowed to serve as a nurse during World War I. So she becomes an Apache dancer instead.

Theda Bara plays the social-climbing Olga Dolan, who becomes the Duchess of Rutledge by means of deception and sheer ruthlessness. Sadly, Bara, who had more or less single-handedly begun the "vamp" craze with the prototype of the genre, A Fool There Was, went out with little more than a whisper. She left films after the ironically titled The Lure of Ambition, and was lured back only twice, in: The Unchastened Woman (1925), a poverty row concoction which had few takers, and Madame Mystery (1926)

Desperate to change her vixenish image, Theda Bara was called upon to play a sweet young thing (she was nearly 30) who sacrifices herself for the happiness of her sister (Claire Whitney).

Camille is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hopes of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Camille discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.

Mary Lynde (Theda Bara) is an innocent girl who has grown up in New York's Greenwich Village. One of the artists there, Felix Benavente (Sidney Mason), uses her as model when he paints a portrait of the Madonna for a church. His friend Robert Sinclair (Hugh Thompson) corrupts Mary so that her father (Walter Law) casts her from his home. She goes to live with Sinclair in his mountain lodge, but after the birth of a child, he callously casts her aside. Subsequently, her baby dies and she sinks to the depths of despair.

Mary Doone (Theda Bara) is a poor British girl who runs away from her adopted family because the father made a pass at her. She lives at a parish house, and at the outbreak of World War I, she becomes a Red Cross nurse.

The affluent Carnabys have now dwindled in fortune and family, leaving just Lucy and her brother, Gordon in financial straits. Situations escalate as they struggle to pay their bills and deal with Gordon's gambling debts.

Vallery Grove is in love with Don Warren but her mother opposes the match because he is poor and has no social standing. Don decides to terminate his engagement to Vallery after attending a party where he meets a spoiled rich girl who is interested in him.

Con artists try to trick an old man out of his life savings.

A padre, acting for a dying soldier, poses as the heir to a slum property and becomes a Labour MP.

Champion college swimmer and summer lifeguard Ken Holmes saves Joan Stanton from drowning. They are sweethearts until a misunderstanding causes Joan to cast off Ken for his chief competitor, Herb Darrow. Joan promises Herb she will wear his fraternity pin if he wins the big swimming race at the hotel the next day. Despondent over his loss, Ken decides not to enter the race; later, he reconsiders when he learns that Joan is to wear Herb's pin if Herb wins. Ken wins the race and resolves his misunderstanding with Joan.

Political graft collector, David Power forced by the district attorney to leave New York takes cabaret singer Hebe Norse with him. Showing talent in a variety of professions, Power is eventually hired by a great steel manufacturer, Gail Rogers. He falls in love with Rogers' daughter Rosalie, and they marry happily until Rogers returns home with a new wife…. Hebe Norse. When Rogers discovers Hebe's past, the two men sever ties as does Rosalie. Vengefully Rogers tries to ruin one of Power's companies without success. Ultimately Rosalie forgives Power and they and their young daughter are reunited.