Bob Reynolds, a construction engineer, is constructing a dam. Finding himself in financial trouble, he is persuaded by John Brand to use a cheaper--but far inferior--cement to replace the cement he's been using. Brand, who is determined to ruin Reynolds, then talks him into buying worthless stock. Finding himself in desperate straits, Reynolds forges a check using Brand's name. Unfortunately the finished dam breaks and many people are killed. Under suspicion by the authorities, Reynolds desperate searches for a way out of his worsening situation.

Barbara Rand is blinded when she leaps through a window to escape an assailant. Her sister, Natalie, reluctantly abandons her fiancé, Ned Gardiner, and marries Oliver Landis, who can provide the money needed for Barbara's operation. Unaware that Oliver was Barbara's attacker, Natalie blames his business partner, Howard Pollard, who was with Barbara on the night she was injured. Natalie holds Howard at gunpoint, but when her husband arrives, he promises to deal with the villain making sure Howard falls to his death. Upon Barbara’s release from the hospital, Oliver tries to blind her once. Natalie threatens him with a pistol, but Oliver wrests it away from her. He then realizes that he can no longer hide his guilt from Natalie or the police and shoots himself. Barbara has been avenged, and Natalie is free to marry Ned.

Young New York playboy Stephen Winthrop inherits the entire estate of his wealthy Canadian uncle but pays scant attention to it, preferring the "party" life in New York. He is unaware that the family attorney, Frank Garson, has forbidden hunting on the Winthrop lands in Canada, cutting off the livelihoods of the local villagers. Mary Cartier, goddaughter of the village priest, travels to New York to try to get Stephen to change the policy. He returns with her to Canada, sees what's going on, and lifts the ban, then decides to stay in Canada. Mary returns to New York to try to help Garson's abandoned and ill wife and child, but the wife dies, and Mary brings back the small child to Canada. The villagers, mistaking the child for Mary's, are outraged at this "scarlet woman" flaunting her illegitimate child and attempt to drive her out. Complications ensue.

The wanton dancer Thais, tries to entice Paphnutius from becoming a monk but fails. He later returns to reclaim her soul and follow in his footsteps. They attempt to live lives of simplicity, but the pull of worldliness is too strong.

A father who despises his daughter, a boyfriend who refuses to marry the girl he knocked up, and a mother caught in the middle.

Jacqueline Floriot is driven from her home by her husband Louis, a deputy attorney of Paris, because of his unjust suspicions regarding her relations with another man. Floriot forbids Jacqueline to see her baby boy, who is dangerously ill, and when informed that the boy believes her dead, she attempts suicide.

Duplicitous Patricia Chase schemes to break up the new marriage of Margery and Wallace Graham because she yearns for Wallace despite her marriage to another. She nearly succeeds but the revelation of a secret thwarts her at the last moment and she gets her just desserts shortly after.

When two men, one from the city the other a trapper and a woman are trapped in a cabin in the Northwoods after a massive snowstorm. Through the winter a silent bitter struggle develops between the men for the hand of the young woman which ends in the treachery of the city man being exposed and the trapper winning the affections of the young woman after a thrilling forest fire.

A woman hears of a murder plot through a whispered voice on the telephone.

Crooked gambler Eddie Kane induces his estranged wife, Poppy, to help him blackmail Brownlow Clay, the owner of a clean-cut gambling establishment in Tijuana. The plan involves Kane "discovering" Poppy in Clay's private apartment to demand hush money. During the setup, Poppy finds herself genuinely falling for Clay. Overcome with remorse and ashamed of her part in the "badger game," Poppy chooses to protect Clay and double-crosses her husband instead. With Kane's plot defeated, Poppy and Clay are free to marry and start a happy future together.

Larry Thomas works as a minor employee in a large insurance company. He loves Ellen Horton, who has great faith in him. When Larry is falsely accused of murder, it is Ellen who saves the day. She also manages to help him achieve the position in the business he deserves.

The Thompson-Thorpe automobile was once a great car but dissension between the owners led to the break-up of the company, and Thompson and Thorpe have each started their own car-manufacturing company. Not knowing his true identity, Earle Thorpe Jr. has been hired by Henry Thompson to drive his new car in an upcoming race. Unknown to Thompson has two crooked mechanic/engineers on his payroll who plan to make their own car, using Thompson's plans, and win the big race themselves. Etta, Thompson’s daughter, and Earle team up to re-unite Thompson and Thorpe Sr. by taking the best features of both cars and combine them into one super car.