The story centers around two small statuettes containing valuable emeralds, which are said to project a sinister influence on the possessor. The czar of Russia gives the statuettes to a grand duke, who, in turn, gives them to his secretary, John Hawksley. Hawksley sends them to America in a friend's possession and follows after.

A young British girl born and raised in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's estate. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and neglected.

Japanese leading man Sessue Hayakawa stars as John A. Ghengle, the Oxford-educated son of an Arab chieftain. Entering into a business partnership with Sir Harry Falkland (Jack Holt), a notorious roue, Ghengle relocates to Sierra Leone, where he falls in love with French-Sudanese girl Maida Verne (Florence Vidor.) Upon proposing marriage, Ghengle is turned down and hotly demands to know why.

Marooned on a desert island, Dr. Robert Farlow and wealthy toxicologist Count Ito Onato both fall in love with Lora, a beautiful Japanese-American girl. Lora prefers Robert but decides to reject him because of his excessive fondness for drinking. After their rescue, Lora marries Count Ito, but Robert, still in love and resolving to win her, stops drinking, and soon attains a reputation in medicine matched only by the count's.

A rich Easterner who has always wanted to live in "the Wild West" plans to move to a Western town. Unknown to him, the town's "wild" days are long gone and it is an orderly and civilized place now. The townsmen, not wanting to lose a rich potential resident, contrive to make over the town to suit the young man's fantasy.

Lieut. Governor Oliver Barnitz accedes to the governorship when his predecessor, failing to call out the militia during a riot at the Wilmot plant, is shot and killed by terrorist Oliver Poole. Faced with the dilemma of whether or not to commute the assassin's death sentence, Barnitz falls into a troubled sleep and dreams of being forced to cast judgment on his father in a similar position.