A serving girl receives a telegram that she has come into an inheritance. The family she works for suddenly starts to treat her well, and several young men come to court her. Then she receives another telegram telling her the inheritances is only $25. All her new 'friends' desert her, except her poor boyfriend.
The Russian Czar sends his trusted confidant, Michael Strogoff, to warn his brother the Grand Duke of a Tartar rebellion that will be led by Feofar Khan and Ivan Ogareff. Calling himself Nicholas Korpanoff, Strogoff poses as a trader to journey to warn the Grand Duke. On his way he meets Nadia Fedorova, a young girl trying to join her father Wassili, a political activist who has been exiled to Siberia. Strogoff is captured by the Tartars, who don't believe he is a trader and threaten to torture Strogoff's mother Marfa unless he reveals his true identity.
Hickey, a contemptible character, acts as a spy for the police, keeping them posted concerning the doings of the crooks with whom he consorts. In return, the police, although they despise him, pay him small sums of money for expenses.
Two tramps look so much alike that they can outfox the police time after time. When one of them is locked in a shack, the police manage to catch the other one and expose the trick.
Bill is a rich miner but wants a wife. He advertises in an Eastern paper and receives a response from Nellie and Eleanor, but doesn't know it was sent as a joke. When he travels East to meet them, they have the cook pose as the writer of the response.
Ezra Hickman, of Kankakee, is a political aspirant. At a reception in Washington with his wife and daughter Amy he meets the Ambassador of Selim Bey, the ruler of a small European kingdom, Vergania. The Ambassador, seeking an American girl for his ruler, paints a glowing picture of Vergania to Hickman's wife, with the result that she persuades her husband to accept the American Consulate at. Vergania. Amy, the daughter, is enamored of Lieutenant Brice of the U.S. Navy, and reluctantly she agrees to leave him and go with her family.
Jim and Mary are a betrothed couple whose devotion to each other is tested when a famous actress comes to town.
Bertha Holt, a stenographer, is alone in New York. She becomes acquainted with John Rawls, who tricks her into going to a hotel with him telling her he will get a minister to marry them. Bertha, who believes in Rawls, agrees. Rawls returns without the minister and Bertha guesses his real purpose.
Silent film drama...
A royal princess gives her time to the Red Cross, and works alongside a young American doctor.
A romance between a beginning writer and a publisher.
Mrs. Casey, a pretty young widow is sought by O'Brien and Sullivan, who are rivals.
Reflecting the plot of Charles Gounod's opera, Faust, an old man, sits unhappy in his study. Méphistophélès materializes and offers a devil's bargain - youth and vigor in exchange for Faust's soul. Faust accepts and instantly transforms into a young man. The two go out on the town, and Faust lays eyes on Marguerite, a virgin whose brother Valentin is her protector. Valentin goes to war, leaving Marguerite in the care of his friend Siébel and under the watchful eye of his neighbor, Marthe. Faust courts Marguerite while Méphistophélès chats with Marthe. Seduction, loss of reputation, pregnancy, and tragedy follow.
John Bronson, Mr. Daly's farmhand, has ambitions and decides to go to the city. He breaks the news to Mr. and Mrs. Daly and their daughter Lottie. They do their utmost to dissuade him from his purpose, but John has made up his mind to go. He gets employment in a department store. Soon he is promoted to a slightly higher position. He has become neglectful of his country friends, and Lottie waits in vain for an answer to her letters.
A mother with two young children survives the San Francisco earthquake disaster.
Juan leaves for Rawlins, Arizona, where he wants to find a job so he can marry his fiancee Juanita, because Juanita's mother says a man must have quite substantial savings before he can marry her daughter. Juan takes a job with the railways. When a former employee raids the money train on which Juan is working, he manages to escape with the aid of a trolley, as a result of which the attack can be thwarted. For his courageous act Juan gets two thousand guilders as a reward.
Helen Ross spends her time reading novels. She has made up her mind to marry only a young man whom she can save from something or other, or one who can rescue her in some romantic way.
Within the sunny little Mexican City of Juarez, Alonzo, the famous bull-fighter, is to match his skill against the bull from Chihuahua. Pretty Dolores wanders one day without the Plaza El Torres, hoping to get one peep at the wonderful animals. Juan, a young Mexican employed at the Plaza, sees the girl and attracted by her beauty, offers to show her the bulls. He takes her within the Plaza and shows her all the interesting sights. The young people are mutually interested in each other and it proves a case of love at first sight. Alonzo also meets the girl and proposes for her hand. While Dolores loves Juan, she is quickly given to understand by her parents that Alonzo is a much more desirable match and that she must give up poor Juan. This Dolores reluctantly agrees to do. Finally the eventful day arrives. Alonzo, however, reaches the Plaza far too drunk to enter the arena and the management is in despair.
A cat gets caught under a hat and walks around, frightening everyone in town.
Christabel Nuneham (Gladys Hanson) feels neglected by her husband, Phil (Ferdinand Tidmarsh), so she has an affair with Rex Allen (Jack Standing). When Allen has to go to India, Christabel follows him to Southampton to see him off. She is injured in a car accident and is rescued by an evangelist (George Soule Spencer) whose specialty is saving sinners.
