William Fielding, a young widower, is living in Shanghai with his little boy, David. A young Chinese woman looks after the child, and Foo Chang, a trader, lusts after her.
Lawrence Revel, celebrated in society circles for his success with women, is devoted to his son Dick and objects to his marrying Nellie, a cabaret dancer.
Two men, Philip Whittemore (Henry B. Walthall) and Thorpe (Harry Northrup) both go to the Northwest to gain the right-of-way for their railroad company from D'Arcambal (Emmett King).
La tempesta in un cranio (Tempest in a Cranium) is an anarchic, quasi-surreal Italian comedy of multiple delights in which the timorous scion of a wealthy family is gaslit by his friends in order to prove that his fears of hereditary insanity are hogwash.