Chorus girl Peggy Malone, supporting her father and brother, marries press agent Jimmy Parsons. They settle into a quiet life until her "shiftless" relatives move in, causing marital strain and financial pressure.
When her father, an indigent artist, dies, Sylvia Lacey goes to live with her Aunt Martha and her uncle, Judge Trent, in New England, where she is unwanted and humiliated.
Jim Glover is an engineer in charge of constructing a railroad to the sea. He gives the company president Gage a tour of the area of land coveted for its use as a short cut that can save hours on the journey.
Boone Stallard, elected to the Kentucky Legislature by a mountain district, clashes with Randolph Marshall, a Blue Grass aristocrat who is engaged to Anne, the governor's daughter.
Bart Carson is in love with Lou and even goes to jail to save Walter A. Walker, a man she says is her brother but who is really a husband who has deserted his wife and two children.