Victor Ballard, a happy-go-lucky albeit impoverished sidewalk photographer, shares a New York City studio apartment with Polish immigrant painter Stefan Janowski. The big city doles out joy and misery indiscriminately: In the apartment below Victor and Steve, Gus Nelson learns that his wife has given birth to quintuplets, while the lonely tenant in the apartment below Gus has given up on life and committed suicide.
Captain Slocum of the Hesperus arrives on shore in a New England village to find that the girl he loves has been tricked into marrying John Hazzard in his absence. Heartbroken and bitter, the captain, with his daughter, Gale, and second mate, Singapore Jack, returns to sea. He rescues from a burning vessel John Hazzard, Jr., son of his rival, and though he tries to keep the boy from Gale, a romance develops. ...
An American boy turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. He is sent to live with the cold and unsentimental lord who oversees the trust.
A Russian peasant girl rises to fame as an operatic diva. She becomes beloved of a Russian prince. When the 1917 revolution overthrows the czar's government, the pair attempts to cross the icy steppes and find their way to America.
A group of youngsters grow up and love in a peaceful French village. But war intrudes and peace is shattered. The German army invades and occupies village, bringing both destruction and torture. The young people of the village resist, some successfully, others tragically, until French troops retake the town.
Princess Seraphina, taking her small son, Paul, flees from Yulania to the village of Champ Fleury in Normandy, because of the debauchery of her husband, Prince Feodor. The agent of Saxonia, Count Stefan, calls to convince Feodor he should divorce his wife and marry Princess Sofia Anoria with her fifty million francs, for Saxonia needs Yulania as a buffer state in case of war. Prince Feodor consents and agrees to the conspiracy of the agent to gain reason for divorce.
