Remotely derived from Balzac, the plot centers on Maurice Travers, who, through the self-sacrificing efforts of his mother, is able to attend college, though his love for sports and consequent neglect of his studies prevent his graduation. Madeline Marshall, an orphan living with Maurice's mother, loves him, but Maurice marries Donna Wayne, daughter of a wealthy New Yorker; and in the city they lead a carefree life. Her father insists that he support her, but he cannot. Following the blindness and death of his mother, Donna elopes with a rich suitor, and after a divorce Maurice finds happiness with the faithful Madeline.

Desperate because a wealthy man has reduced her father to thievery, Rhoda agrees to rob the poor box of the church, although she finds the act abhorrent.

To please her once wealthy mother, Amy Terrell fraternizes with members of high society who find her entertaining because of her beauty and charm. At one of Mrs. Van Trant's house parties, Amy is requested by her hostess to amuse Andrew Masters, an influential businessman who has an aversion to society women. Impersonating an old-fashioned girl, Amy wins Masters until he learns of her deception and denounces her.

World War I, October 1918. The more than 500 men of the 77th Infantry Division of the United States Army, who have been recruited in New York City and trained in Yaphank, are sent to France, to help break down the German defenses located in the Argonne forest…

Minnie Penelope Peck, the village scamp of Yaptank, accompanies her father to the bank to demand the nine dollars owed him for his work as a night watchman. When the bank president refuses to pay Peck, Minnie posts a sign which states that the bank is insolvent, whereupon all of the depositors immediately demand their money. The fire department is called in to quell the mob, but things get worse when Minnie accidentally turns on the fire hose.....

A wealthy young American, bred to class distinction and racial intolerance, enters the Marines during the First World War. In the course of his training and his experiences in the trenches fighting, being wounded by, and being hospitalized with Germans, he comes to a recognition of the equality and brotherhood of men.

A 1917 film directed by Arthur Rosson.

An optimistic girl survives city life as a shoe shine till she ends up in children's court. Just as she helps her geranium, Sally, to grow, a kindly judge sees her potential and takes her to his mother's country home to flourish.