Upon his death Jerry Livingstone, a wealthy convict, leaves his son Henry the sole heir of a considerable fortune with the provision of a larger additional sum if he marries Jerry's ward, Winifred Gale.
Rene, condemned to execution for murder in the first degree tells his mother the story of the crime. His sister had been lured from home and abandoned by the villain.
Dirk Morgan, a trusted member of a powerful international criminal gang, receives word that the steamer Empress has left Melbourne with a secret shipment of gold; the letter also contains plans for the ship's hold and cabins.
Young thief Nell Durand is caught picking the pocket of a wealthy young man named Tom Berry. Instead of turning her in, he offers to help her reform, leading to a love story complicated by a greedy lawyer who tries to prevent their marriage.
Mabel Vandergrift moves from the country to the city and enrolls in an upscale college. She starts to hang around with a "fast" crowd, and one night at a party a young man picks her for his "conquest".
Grace and her brother Edwin are living in a modest city apartment when they receive an invitation from their wealthy uncle to live on his Southern California ranch.
Mary Walton finds herself in a dire situation when her first husband falls seriously ill. In a misguided and desperate attempt to secure the resources or help needed to save her ailing husband, she becomes a bigamist by marrying another man.
When Jack Dougan and Snatcher Nell, partners in crime as well as love, decide to purloin the gifts at the wedding of Madge Carr to James Cluney, Nell poses as a maid to gain entrance to the household.
When showing a woman customer some ranch property, real estate agent John Weems's car is disabled by a terrible storm, and he and his client are forced to take refuge in a roadhouse.
Two factory owners, Hiram Maxwell and Nicholas Harding are almost polar opposites -- Maxwell pays careful attention to his employees needs, while Harding totally disregards them.
Becky Warder constantly indulges in the telling of little white lies. In an innocent effort to ease the troubled marriage of her quarreling friends Eve and Fred Lindon, Becky meets secretly with Fred, thereby constructing a web of deceit that leads Eve to suspect Becky of trifling with her husband's affections.