Margaret Jarnette discovers that her husband Victor has been cheating on her and confronts him. Outraged, Victor has his lawyer rewrite his will so that in the event of his death, his brother Richard will get custody of his daughter Muriel, and his wife won't. When Victor dies shortly afterward, Richard suspects that Margaret had murdered him and takes custody of Muriel. However, he soon begins to suspect that things may not be quite as cut-and-dried as he thought they were.

Innocent country boy Tom Logan is taken in by the scheming Barbara Kay, a city woman who knows Tom is set to inherit his fathers farm which sits on a rich coal field. Toms father sees through her plot and disinherits him when her marries Barbara. When Barbara tires of farm life, the ensuing events lead to death and misplaced guilt.

Two Southern clans, the Lynches and the Summers, have been at odds with each other since long before Civil War times. But that hasn't stopped Jere Lynch and Betty Summers from falling in love.

Dearie Lane refuses to marry Fred Millard, whom she loves, because of her previous affair with roué Mark Winfield. When she confesses, Fred forgives her, and they marry and live happily in a modest home until the owner, who turns out to be Winfield, comes to collect a delinquent payment and suddenly dies. Dearie, afraid that the absent Fred will misunderstand, hides the body with the help of a boarder and a cook until midnight when they carry it down the stairs to the countryside, but the creaking of the steps is heard by Fred.

After the death of her father, a young girl goes to live with her uncle in Kentucky. She immediately comes into conflict with her uncle's shrewish wife.