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When his father is killed in a train wreck, Larry Baker vows to unmask a mysterious criminal called "The Wrecker," who has targeted the L&M Railroad for deadly" accidents."

The Eagle uses sky writing to make threats against a corporation. Nathan Gregory owns a traveling fairground and is thought to be the Eagle. Craig McCoy is a pilot who goes looking for the Eagle when Gregory turns up missing.

The story opens with an allegorical prologue, which presents various personified vices, including ambition and greed, then moves into the following drama: Arnold Gray, a fighter against child labor and other social ills, comes under the influence of Rhoda Lewis, an ambitious clubwoman who helps him win the gubernatorial nomination. Arnold meets and falls in love with Jane Morton, a respected writer, and they soon marry. All goes well until Jane becomes pregnant. Hard at work on a child-labor bill and winning the governorship, Arnold feels that a baby would be an encumbrance to his career. Jane is at first elated by her pregnancy, but Rhoda and Arnold gradually talk her out of having the baby. Because she suffers acute depression, Jane visits Dr. Brainard and confesses her troubles. Arnold is elected governor, but because Jane dies soon afterward, he no longer cares about living. After dreaming of his unborn son, Arnold awakens to find his wife beside him, joyful that his ordeal has been only a nightmare.

Iris Lee is reared in the small town of Dalton by her deceased mother's friend, Martha Kane; when she reaches adulthood, Martha's son Jim falls in love with her. When she fails to return his affections, Mrs. Kane treats her so coldly that Iris decides to leave the stuffy little village for the metropolis. On her journey, she accepts a ride with Jack Andrews, but after he attempts to kiss her, she leaps from the car and walks the rest of the way. While singing in the choir of a large metropolitan church, she is discovered by Jack's wealthy father Peter, who recommends her as a soloist. Light-opera star Helen Manning, who has helped Iris to cultivate her voice, quarrels with her theatrical manager, and Iris is offered her position. On opening night, Jack bursts into her dressing room and drunkenly offers to take her home. Distressed, Iris returns to the village, but Jack, who remorsefully has given up drinking for a job in his father's firm, follows her to Dalton. Finally convinced of his love, Iris agrees to marry him.

A professor's daughter craves excitement and sends her father on a treasure hunt. The captain leaves him to die on the island and returns for his possessions and the girl. Dick saves her father from the island and comes to her rescue.

Upon discovering that his sister has been driven to suicide by the betrayal of Enrico Colonna, young mountaineer Dabney Morgan swears to avenge her death. Setting out to find Colonna, Dabney becomes enmeshed in quicksand and is rescued from certain death by a stranger who turns out to be the man he is pursuing. In gratitude Dabney gives the culprit a chance to make his getaway, but in his plight, Colonna is fatally wounded by a shot from Dabney's rifle. At this moment, the victim's sister Elenore arrives and at gunpoint impels Dabney to remove her brother to a nearby cabin. Obliging her, Dabney soon finds himself falling in love with his captor, thus presenting a conflict between his duty to his dead sister and his love for Elenore. This dilemma is resolved when Colonna finally dies from his wounds, freeing the couple to begin a new life in the valley of tomorrow.

Rhoda Eldridge lives in the Paris Latin Quarter, learns at the death of her father Charles that her real name is Sayles and that she has an uncle somewhere in America. She travels to the States as a nursemaid but is discharged soon after her arrival. In the park, she finds an envelope containing a letter to Rosy Taylor from a Mrs. Du Vivier, along with a key, $2, and instructions to clean the Du Vivier mansion each week. When the penniless Rhoda learns that Rosy is dead, she cleans the home herself, and all is well until Jacques Le Clerc, Mrs. Du Vivier's brother, mistakes her for a thief and sends her to a reformatory. Rhoda, however, escapes and returns to the house. Upon discovering that Rosy has been dead for weeks, Jacques and his sister catch the mysterious housekeeper once again. Through the efforts of Jacques, who has fallen in love with her, Rhoda is united with her rich uncle, and to demonstrate her gratitude, she accepts the young man's marriage proposal.

The clerks at a New York hotel near Times Square turn away customers until they approve millionaire John Stonehouse and give him room 420. While attempting suicide, John hears a shot from a nearby room. Finding Gilberte Bonheur bending over the limp body of Aaron Witt, whom, she says, she shot when he tried to assault her, John, wanting to die anyway, offers to take the blame. He escapes after recovering an emerald that Witt used to blackmail Gilberte. After Gilberte, Witt, and the clerks conspire, John helps Gilberte hide Witt, who revives and demands the emerald or its value. John writes a check and leaves taking a theater ticket given to him by Gilbert. John, who contemplated suicide because he accidentally drank a strange poison, now receives an antidote which his chemist created. Cured, he goes to the theater and sees the happenings in the hotel enacted. Backstage, Gilberte explains that the ruse was to prove to a critic that the plot could really happen. They then confess their mutual love.

After his young wife dies, Phillip Fletcher, a millionaire and sculptor, makes his home on an uncharted desert island. Harry LeRoy, a cad who is courting the widow Mrs. Hansen, desires the widow's convent-bred daughter Norma and persuades mother and daughter to accompany him on a sea cruise. When the ship catches fire, Norma, abandoned by LeRoy and her mother in the confusion, is washed ashore on Phillip's island. Phillip clothes and shelters Norma, whose mind has become childlike from shock, and uses her as a model for his sculptures. Through Phillip's friend Jack, a photo of one of the sculptures travels to America, where LeRoy sees it and subsequently finds his way to Phillip's island. LeRoy tries to rape Norma, and in the ensuing struggle LeRoy is killed and Norma recovers her adult personality. Phillip, who is in love with Norma, sorrowfully returns her to the United States, but Norma does not board the boat, and Phillip, finding her posing as one of his statues when he returns to his hut, finally declares his love.

A young orphan known as The Pearl Hunter discovers a priceless pearl called The Blue Moon. A notorious criminal known as The Red Mask murders the man who bought the pearl, and the Pearl Hunter is blamed for the crime and jailed. A lynch mob attempts to take him from the jail to hang him, but he escapes. He sets out to track down The Red Mask, find the pearl and clear his name.

During lunch, Cuthbert King asks his sister Phyllis for a loan to pay off his gambling debts. Upon leaving the restaurant, he accidentally takes the overcoat of antique jewelry dealer Grayson Blair. When Phyllis is unable to pay her bill, Grayson, attracted to her, picks up the check, but after he arrives home and discovers that a valuable Hindu necklace he had stored in his coat pocket is missing, he suspects Phyllis as the crook. Dressing up in her brother's clothes, Phyllis finds the necklace, suspects her brother, and seeks out Grayson, whom she has discovered to be the jewel's owner. After a series of mix-ups during which Rhi, who has been trailing the necklace to return it to the Hindu idol from which it was stolen, tries unsuccessfully to kill Grayson, the overcoat is recognized, everything is cleared up, and Grayson and Phyllis become engaged.

Charity and her young brother are taken in by Merlin Durand, the son of a penurious millionaire, when their mother, a poor cleaning woman, dies. Charity is a strong believer in the world of fairy tales, and calls Merlin "The Prince". Merlin's cheapskate father cuts off his allowance until he gets a job and earns a salary, then leaves home for a "water cure". His servants immediately take a vacation, leaving the house empty, so Charity and Merlin hide there until Merlin can find a job. Charity begins to call the mansion "Charity Castle". They soon wind up involved with a strange cast of characters, including a burglar and an unemployed Shakespearean actor.

Unconventional Olive Barton shocks her aunt when she stages a boxing match during a tea for the new minister. When Olive's father is called West to attend to some mining interests, Olive sneaks into his private car and accompanies him. Arriving in the West, they meet Leonard Hewitt, a young mining engineer, and his partner "Highball" Hazelitt. Even though Olive mistakes them for bandits, she falls in love with Leonard. Olive turns the saloon into a successful gymnasium, manages to foil a conspiracy against her father's mine, and wins the love of Leonard.

Richard Chester, a bachelor who has lost everything in a poker game, blunders into the apartment of Nora Ellis, who has just inherited a fortune under the stipulation that she marry immediately. Assuming the name Chester Dick, Richard marries Nora and leaves. Unaware of this marriage of convenience, Charles Renalls, Nora's suitor, later assumes that her wealth is the only impediment to their union and conspires to ruin her on the market. Upon learning of his scheme, Richard ruins Charles. Nora falls in love with Richard, not recognizing her benefactor as her husband of an evening. Hoping to spoil Richard's chances with Nora, Charles tells her that Richard is already married and that he carries his wife's picture in his pocket. To her surprise and delight, Nora discovers that the incriminating picture is her own photograph and that Richard is already her husband.

Loath to leave her pet dog in the baggage car, the wealthy Norah McDonald dresses the animal in baby clothes and carries him into the Pullman coach. There she meets millionaire philanthropist Paul Howell, who remarks that she seems rather young to be married. When Norah responds that she is unwed, Paul assumes that she has been betrayed and sympathetically offers her a position in his charity organization. Attracted to Paul, Norah accepts the job, but she disapproves of his bureaucratic methods and soon establishes a rival organization based less on efficiency than on charity. Norah's success and a few glaring failures of his own finally convince Paul that red tape and philanthropy don't mix, and after he learns that her "baby" is a Pekinese, the two become engaged.

New bride Winnie Davis wants to buy her husband Elmer a birthday present, but she can't because he insists that all household expenses be charged to him, and she doesn't want him finding out what she's buying him. She decides to make money by using the family car as a taxi, puts on a "chauferette" uniform and soon is attracting many new customers--mostly male. Matters become more complicated when a jealous former suitor of Winnie tries to ruin her husband by putting financial pressure on Elmer so Winnie will come back to him..

Wealthy banker John Sevier is engaged to Elaine Morier, who runs an upscale gambling club with her father Gerald. One night at the club John stops a fight between club employee Jim Hammond and a wealthy young customer named Tom Leonard. He takes Leonard home and meets his sister Marion. The next day he discovers that his banking partner, Jim Collins, has made too many bad investments with the bank's money and the institution is in danger of going under. John promises to use his own money to save the bank, but Elaine, outraged, breaks off their engagement. However, Marion and Tom congratulate him on his courage in putting up his own money to save the bank. Elaine and her father--who were scheming to take John for his money all along--realize that they made a mistake and try to get the two back together again. Complications ensue.

Poor Molly O'Toole takes a job as housekeeper at the country home of wealthy Mrs. J. Van Ranselear Todd. Arriving at "Castle Crags," Molly is mistaken by the villagers for Mrs. Todd, and decides to continue the masquerade, thus attracting the attentions of Captain Hancock, her wealthy neighbor. Meanwhile Mrs. Todd's roguish son Algernon has purchased a donkey and cart from peddler Joe Holmes and is traveling through the country when he arrives at Castle Crags to discover Molly masquerading as his mother. Deciding not to reveal his own identity or expose Molly, Algernon takes a job as her chauffeur. The two fall in love and Algernon begs Molly to marry him, but she is reluctant to part with the captain's millions. A series of events makes Molly believe that her chauffeur has become a forger on her account, however, and she realizes her love for him. She resolves to give up the captain, but at that point Mrs. Todd arrives, claims Algernon as her son and welcomes Molly as her future daughter-in-law.

In New York City, Luigi's Little Italy inn attracts a steady clientele because of the owner's personable niece, Carmina, known as "The Tiger Lily," who never hesitates to rebuke her ill-mannered admirers. Giovanni, who has arrived from Italy to kill the man who married his brother's fiancée, falls in love with Carmina. However, he soon learns that Carmina is attracted to David Remington, the son of the Luigi's landlord, and offers money for her hand in marriage. Carmina escapes and David invites her to his family home, unaware that his mother was engaged to Giovanni's brother. Mrs. Remington warns David against marrying beneath him, but comes to admire Carmina after witnessing her interactions with members of high society. Regardless, Carmina is asked to leave, then discovers that Giovanni plans to kill David's parents. She notifies the police, and after an ensuing fight, Giovanni is subdued. The Remingtons now accept Carmina as their future daughter-in-law.

Eve Ricardo, a society girl, is sent to live with her aunt in a New England village by her father, a speculator who has lost all his money. She is initially attracted to John Sheen until she discovers that he is a violent thug and bully. She then falls for writer Paul Armitage. Sheen does not take rejection well, and conspires with his sister, Nina Carey--who is married, whose husband is in India and who is in love with Paul--to discredit Paul and break up their romance.

Wealthy Mrs. John Grant Nottingham instructs her attorney to find an ugly girl to whom she will bequeath her millions, in order to spite her scheming daughter-in-law Emily Nottingham. The lawyer discovers Annie Johnson, a homely orphan who lives in a tenement, caring for Mrs. Cadogan's six children at night and working in a department store during the day. Annie is accepted by Mrs. Nottingham as her sole heir, and she soon wins the old woman's affection. Because of her new happiness, Annie changes into a lovely girl, and Emily's son Willard Kaine Nottingham falls in love with her. When Mrs. Nottingham dies, Emily contests the will and wins the inheritance for herself, but Annie's future is secured when she accepts Willard's marriage proposal.

Anxious to see the world, Nick Fowler boards a train bound for New York. On board he meets Jimmie Keen, a motion picture director, and sees a mysterious beautiful girl who leaves her purse behind. Nick retrieves the purse and inside it discovers a photo of the girl, inscribed with the name Gwendolyn Van Loon. After arriving in New York, Nick pays Keen a visit, but an impertinent office boy prevents him from seeing the director. After a series of similar disappointments in the big city, Nick continues to write glowing accounts of his life to his family back home. While he's writing a letter to his father one day, a guest at an adjoining desk drops a photo of Gwendolyn. The stranger introduces himself as Lord Boniface Cheadle, and Nick becomes an unwitting tool of the man who is in reality Steve Diamond, a crook. Under Cheadle's instructions, Nick goes to the Van Loon house and presents himself as Steve Diamond, which initiates a train of events that culminates in the escape of the real Lord Cheadle while Nick grapples with the crooks until the police arrive. It is then revealed that the whole adventure was invented by Nick to impress his dad, but when Keen reads the story, he is so impressed that he offers Nick a job as a scriptwriter and introduces him to the leading lady: Gwendolyn Van Loon.

On a desolate beach near a lifesaving station, Ira, the youngest member of the lifeguard crew, rescues a baby girl from a wreck. The child is cared for at the station, where the men christen her Periwinkle. Living near the station are Ephraiam Rawlins and his childless daughter Ann, a widow with maternal longings. Joyously, Ann takes charge of Periwinkle and raises the girl as her own. Grown to adulthood, Periwinkle is the bright spot for the men at the station. One day, Richard Langdon Evans, a dissolute, wealthy young New Yorker, is cast ashore from the wreck of his yacht. Periwinkle, aiding the lifesavers, helps bring him back to life. Her innocent goodness and faith transform Dick from a carousing society ne'er-do-well to a man of noble ambitions. Thus rehabilitated, Dick wins Periwinkle's hand in marriage.

A young woman of wealth revenges herself on a young author whose peculiar ideas about women have led him to act and speak in an insulting manner. This young man isolates himself in the mountains for the purpose of writing a story on the primitive woman, where he is discovered by his friends, to whom he vows that no woman shall cross his threshold. The mischievous young woman of the story, determined to place him at her feet, goes secretly to the home of a mountain woman with whom she lives in the guise of a wild girl of the hills. Purposely sliding over an embankment where she knows she will fall in his path, she is rewarded by having him pick her up and carry her to his cabin, where she pretends to be too much injured to be moved that day. The mountain woman is sent for and the two remain in the cabin of the author for several days. Finally she is discovered by her people, when it also comes to light that the woman-hating author has fallen to the charms of his pretty visitor.

A gray-gowned woman at a masked ball entices wealthy society man Philip Greycourt, who is bored with easy conquests, to a hotel, then leaves without unmasking. Later, Philip visits the country home of John Villiers with a friend, and although Philip thinks that Villiers' second wife Helen, who flirts with him, is the masked woman, she denies having met him earlier. Helen's stepdaughter Catherine falls in love with Philip, but he scarcely notices her. When Villiers leaves for town one evening, Helen invites Philip to her sitting room and admits that she was the masked woman. Villiers returns unexpectedly, and seeing shadows of figures in a window embracing, he runs inside. The maid warns Helen, and Philip enters another room, where Catherine lies in bed. As Villiers pounds on the door, Catherine accepts Philip's proposal. They marry the next day; later, after Villiers dies, Helen attempts to seduce Philip, and jealously tells Catherine, whom Philip now loves, of their past. When Philip learns that Catherine has left to board a steamer, he follows, and they enjoy a honeymoon cruise.