The U.S. Army and the Indians sign a peace treaty. However, a group of surveyors trespass on the Indians' land and violate the treaty. The army refuses to listen to the Indians' complaints, and the surveyors are killed by the Indians. A vicious Indian war ensues, culminating in an Indian attack on an army fort.
When Reverend Robert Henley and his sister Faith arrive in the town of Hell's Hinges, saloon owner Silk Miller and his cohorts sense danger to their evil ways. They hire gunman Blaze Tracy to run the minister out of town. But Blaze finds something in Faith Henley that turns him around, and soon Silk Miller and his compadres have Blaze to deal with.
Steve Denton, rich from years of prospecting, is fleeced by the citizens of Yellow Ridge. In his rage, he kidnaps the woman most responsible and makes her his slave in a desert hideaway.
Sioux leader Chief Gray Otter sends his son Tiah to the white man's school so that he can become a great leader. The son returns home drunk, disappointing his father. Things get worse when the son joins a group of renegades and robs a payroll wagon. The father, observing the clash from a distance, takes a side.
Jim and Molly are set to get married when Molly finds out about her fiancé's criminal past. Bill Carey weasels his way into Molly's heart in the interim, eager to relieve her of her savings.
Antone Tojetti and his pretty daughter, Maria, are street musicians in Venice. John Strom, an American millionaire, makes love to Maria, and finally persuades her to leave for America with him. Her father sees them just as they are leaving, but she will not return to him. Two years later, Maria, abandoned by John, returns to her father, who has now become a guide in the mountains. She dies and Antone vows vengeance. Some time after this, John Strom, now married, is touring Europe and he and his party seek a guide to visit Vesuvius. Antone takes the position. John not recognizing in him the father of Maria.
An narcissistic woman with the ability to charm, Leila Aradella reaps delight from preying upon weak men. Her first victim is John Morton, a talented lawyer, whom she ruins both morally and financially. Her second victim, Rex Walden, the generous son of society matron Mrs. Walden, becomes her complete slave. Mrs. Walden sends her elder son Franklin to try to dissuade Leila from toying with Rex's affections. Franklin, however, also falls under Leila's spell, and Rex is driven to suicide by her callous behavior. Desperate, Mrs. Walden enlists Adele Harley, a girl of strong moral character, to fight Leila for Franklin's affections. Adele's determined victory causes Leila to lose her confidence, and in a drunken state, she cuts her own face with a shard from her shattered mirror. Permanently disfigured, Leila ends a broken and lonely woman.
Colonel Crewe, in charge of a fort near the Mexican border, receives word that some Chinese are about to be smuggled across the line. He details Lieutenant Hurd to attend to the matter. Hurd, with a few soldiers, succeeds in capturing the Chinese, among whom is a Christianized girl, Moon Chew. She falls in love with Hurd.
A Native American warrior travels to a faraway tribe to find and defend a woman that haunts his dreams.
A small town marshal’s secret past as an outlaw comes back to haunt him when an old associate shows up and threatens to expose his former dark deeds.
Set during the American Civil War, Keenan stars as a Virginia colonel and Charles Ray as his weak-willed son. The son is forced, at gunpoint, by his father to enlist in the Confederate army. He is terrified by the war and deserts during a battle. The film focuses on the son's struggle to overcome his cowardice.
Virginia Chester visits her Aunt Betty who resides near an army post. Lieut. Calhoun falls in love with Virginia, and after a whirlwind courtship persuades her to marry him secretly. Helen Brassey, the daughter of the Colonel, is in love with Calhoun, and gets her father to help her win the lieutenant's affections.
A "scientific detective" story about the attempted murder of a wealthy New Yorker in his mountain lodge is framed with a satire of Hollywood as the writer of the story comically tries to get the script read and accepted by a studio.
Movie mogul Thomas H. Ince may well have been the director of The Despoiler as indicated by the credits; but since Ince was known far and wide as a glory-hogger, it's also possible that one of his talented lieutenants wielded the megaphone. A Civil War drama, The Despoiler refuses to take sides, demonstrating that there are heroes and villains in both camps. Capturing a small town, Colonel Charles K. French orders his men to reclaim the funds raised for the enemy by the townsfolk. French's drunken, lacivious second-in-command Frank Keenan intends to extort money from the citizens by threatening the virtue of the town's female population.
Dr. Dudley Duprez is a well-known Louisiana physician. His beautiful but wayward niece, Rose Duprez, is abducted by Paul Crenshaw, a friend of the doctor, and to prevent her shame from becoming known, Rose kills herself. Dr. Duprez learns her secret and determines to make Crenshaw expiate his crime. While traveling on a Mississippi River steamer, the doctor wins Mercedes, a beautiful slave, at cards. He takes her home and, passing her off as a distant relative, arranges it so that Crenshaw falls in love with the girl.
One of the earliest westerns directed by William S. Hart. In this film Sferiff Hale (Hart) lets a villain escape to pay his 'debt' to him, at the risk of designation.
William Berner is an English spy who is doing his job behind German lines. While working for the allies, he proves sympathetic toward a German Lieutenant and saves his life. He gives up his own romance for the cause and is killed when the Allies shell the German trench where he happens to be.
Fred Martin is a Southern spy. A northern dispatch bearer is captured, the signature to his messages is forged, and Martin is sent on the dangerous mission of luring the Northern troops into an ambush. He accomplishes this and a terrible battle results, in which the Federals are driven back. The work of Martin is so damaging to the North that plans are laid for his capture, and John Bruce, a secret service man, is assigned to the task.
Parker, an Army lieutenant at a Western outpost, falls in love with Barbara Taylor, daughter of his commanding officer. But when Barbara rejects him, Parker fights with another soldier and deserts. An Indian attack gives him a chance to redeem himself.
Amos Dyer receives word from Washington that there are wireless messages being transmitted from a point in Oregon to foreign battleships off the Pacific Coast. Dyer, the Secret Service representative on the Coast, sets out with his assistant, Calhoun. He arrives, assumes the disguise of an invalid being wheeled about in a chair by his assistant and interviews the regular wireless operator at that point. The suspicions of the Secret Service Department are verified.
