Mobster "Baby Face" Martin returns home to visit the New York neighborhood where he grew up, dropping in on his mother, who rejects him because of his gangster lifestyle, and his old girlfriend, Francey, now a syphilitic prostitute. Martin also crosses paths with Dave, a childhood friend struggling to make it as an architect, and the Dead End Kids, a gang of young boys roaming the streets of the city's East Side slums.

Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.

Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.

Slasher falls off the train that is carrying him. He is found, broken in spirit, by Donald Cass. The dog is regenerated by Donald's love.

Cowboy Phil Stone gets a job as foreman on a ranch owned by pretty young Isabel Hastings. He discovers that ruthless rancher Jeff Kopp has a claim on Isabel's ranch, and that if she dies unmarried before she turns 21, Kopp will get her ranch. When Isabel turns down a marriage proposal by Kopp's son Rudy, Kopp decides to kill her and get the ranch for himself, and hires a notorious killer, "Cyclops", to do the deed.

The hypnotist Svengali makes an artist's model sing, but cannot force her love.

Jane Coleridge and Peter Jamison are a pair of small town sweethearts. She's an old-fashioned girl and he's timid, but he manages to get up the nerve to propose and asks her to run away with him. Unfortunately, around the time Jane's supposed to meet him at the station her father dies and she has to take care of her brothers and sisters. Jamison believes she loves someone else and disappears for several years. When he finally returns, he has a three-year-old child in tow. But he explains that his wife has been unfaithful and he and Jane renew their romance. Then wife shows up and causes trouble by claiming that Jamison left her for Jane.

Juan is the son of a poor widow in Seville. Against his mother's wishes he pursues a career as toreador. He rapidly gains national prominence, and takes his childhood sweetheart Carmen as his bride. He meets the Marquis' daughter Doña Sol and finds himself in the awkward position of being in love with two women, which threatens the stability of his family and his position in society. He finds interesting parallels in the life of the infamous bandit Plumitas when they eventually meet by chance.

Left in the care of his half-breed brother, Buck, by his dying mother, Wallace Layson has no knowledge of his family history. His father, knowing that his son will inherit a ranch on his 21st birthday, tries to secure the property for himself by persuading a dance hall girl to come between the boy and his fiancée. When Buck learns of the plan he decides to foil it without his half-brother knowing.