What is more miserable than love-blighted life? For the heart that truly loves can never forget. Such is the sad fate of the hero of this Biograph story.
Leah Kleschna has been a thief all her life. However, an encounter with a man she intends to rob makes her question her life's course. The film is lost.
King Charles flees and hides in a huge oak tree when the troops loyal to Oliver Cromwell close in. The royal entourage is disguised, and the king's sweetheart masquerades as Charles. Only when she is brought before Cromwell is it discovered the switch has been made.
After his beloved daughter leaves for the city to pay off his debt, an old farmer goes mad when her letters become less frequent and it is suspected she may be using her body to get the money.
Belle Bennett plays as the widowed mother of seven children living in Sioux City, Iowa. She moves with them to Cambridge, Massachusetts in order to educate her children with culture and give them every advantage. Bennett, who is unversed in financial matters, soon faces poverty for herself and her children. She takes out a loan from an unscrupulous lender (played by Richard Tucker), who is so impressed by the charm and valiant spirit of Bennett than he neglects to ask her for collateral. Bennett, however, is only able to partially pay her creditors. Marion Nixon, Bennett's eldest daughter, is shocked by her mother's actions and attempts to sacrifice herself to Tucker in order to clear her mother's obligations, even though she is engaged to marry a well to do Harvard undergraduate, played by Rex Bell. This film is believed lost.
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.
When his sweetheart jilts him, wealthy James Armitage leaves his family estate in the hands of attorney Samuel Bordman and heads for Burma. Six years later, Armitage discovers that his former girlfriend has just become a widow, thus he sails back to America in hopes of rekindling the romance.
While studying in Paris, Princess Oluf of Kosnia (Andree LeJon) befriends an American girl, Ruth Townley (Clayton), and gives her a locket bearing her name and the royal coat of arms. When Ruth accidentally drops the locket off a balcony, it is returned by a handsome stranger. Back home in Kosnia, Oluf wants to get married, but her choice of mate is challenged by Valdemir, the ruler of a neighboring principality (Warner Baxter).
Jimmy Mason lifts himself up from poverty to unlimited riches. The audience knows that he couldn't have done it without the help and support of his wife Marion. When Jimmy starts cheating on her, she divorces him, receiving an enormous settlement. Reduced to penury by various spendthrift mistresses, Jimmy is rescued once more by Marion, who once more guides him to success-and remarries him, this time on her terms.
A classy woman has an affair with a rake after she learns that she has a terminal disease
After his young wife dies, Phillip Fletcher, a millionaire and sculptor, makes his home on an uncharted desert island. Harry LeRoy, a cad who is courting the widow Mrs. Hansen, desires the widow's convent-bred daughter Norma and persuades mother and daughter to accompany him on a sea cruise. When the ship catches fire, Norma, abandoned by LeRoy and her mother in the confusion, is washed ashore on Phillip's island.
Con artists try to trick an old man out of his life savings.
Heiress Sybil Drew is told by her Aunt Annabelle she must earn her own living for a year or be disinherited. Setting out for New York she finds many adventures and toils, including being mistaken for a thief before true love and success come her way.
At the suggestion of his sons Horace and Henry, aging Ebenezer Boyce turns over control of his pistol factory to Martin. However, when Ebenezer discovers the extent of Martin's dishonesty and corruption, the shock gives the old man a heart attack and he dies. Soon afterward Martin is discovered dead, and the brothers begin to suspect each other of the murder.
Unable to pay for her passage upon setting sail to the tropics to meet her mail-order husband, Dorothy Ryan assumes the identity of a wealthy passenger who is presumed dead. Enjoying the preferential treatment she receives; Dorothy continues the masquerade when she arrives at her destination. She forgets all about her husband-to-be and falls for local aristocrat John Rice (Larry Kent). The party ends when the woman whom Dorothy is pretending to be suddenly shows up, very much alive and incredibly angry. Disgraced in the eyes of John's family, Dorothy wanders into the jungle only to be captured by natives and sentenced to be burned at the stake. Will true love John be able to rescue her in time?
A street waif of questionable parentage through circumstances is taken into a wealthy home where she is adopted and cared for until her marriage, which follows the successful attempt to expose the mystery of her birth.
Author David Marshall is sandbagged by holdup men and loses his memory. He finds his way to a bookshop run by his friend Ladd, who takes him in with the hope of helping him to regain his memory. David there meets Hope Masterson and falls in love with her. Bill Dorgan, a gangster in love with Hope, kidnaps her, and David comes to her rescue. David is hit again on the head, and this time he regains his memory. He still recognizes Hope, however, and they look forward to a long and happy life together.
Margaret has given up her stage career to marry inventor Jerry Benson. Jerry fails to impress oil executive William Graves with his idea, but Margaret has better luck when she catches Graves' attention and she both makes the sale and becomes the object of Graves' obsession. Profits from the invention make the Bensons wealthy; however Graves schemes to steal Margaret from Jerry by swindling them out of their money and getting Broadway floozy Gloria to break up their marriage.
Kathleen, the daughter of a poor tenant farmer, dreams of her wedding with her beloved Terrence. The dream is interrupted when the Squire of the estate takes an interest in Kathleen and forces her father to allow him to marry her to forgive the father's debt.