Struggling artist Ned Templeton and his wife Joan are leading a poverty-stricken life in Paris. Threatened by starvation and eviction, Joan is forced to become a prostitute.
In the summer of 1920, the staff of the Rembrandt Theatre in Amsterdam went on strike, which was especially unfortunate for the management of the theatre, since they had invited the German film stars Ossi Oswalda, Marga Köhler, and Victor Janson to the Dutch premiere of their film Wohnungsnot (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920).
Even though the Gommesens have been married for 25 years, they are still in love. They wake up happy on their silver wedding anniversary, but the peaceful atmosphere does not last.
Persuaded by a letter from her Aunt Agnes in America, Kitty McCarthy ( Olive Thomas ) travels from Ireland to New York City, there she meets Gordon Davis, a successful playwright, who directs her to her aunt's address on the East Side.
A stranger (Leo Willis) turns out to be a revenue agent and Texas' brother, Tom, turns him out. But when a gang of moonshiners captures the stranger, Texas takes matters into her own hands.
Notorious pirate Joaquin Santos lives by the saying, "Dead Men Tell No Tales". He conspires with the prominent Squire Rattray to take over and plunder the Lady Jermyn, a ship carrying a considerable amount of gold, and then destroy the ship and kill its crew.