A pretty young lawyer discovers that her father needs an expensive operation to save his life. She goes to a nearby city and takes out an ad offering to marry whoever will pay her $5000, the cost of the operation.
A foreword warns against the peril of yellow journalism, and the story illustrates it by following events in the upstate New York town of Cornwall after prominant financier George Ferguson is killed.
Among the travelers of varied backgrounds that meet and interact on one night at Union Depot, a metropolitan train station, are Chick and his friend Scrap Iron, both newly released from prison after serving time for vagrancy.
Consul General Winterfeld is not thrilled that his son Jørgen will marry showgirl Aurora. He promises Jørgen a million if he can spend a month in the company of Aurora without there being a fight.
Thelma and Zazu are on a leisurely excursion in a borrowed car. Thelma lets Zazu drive. When she brakes to avoid a bull pulled along by three rustics, her foot gets stuck and the car crashes through a barn.