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Inventor Peter Marchmont has discovered a purple light that renders the user invisible. On his release from prison, Marchmont, disguised as Victor Cromport, uses the light to revenge himself against his former wife, Jewel, and her partner, James Dawson, who framed him for theft. Making himself invisible, Marchmont gradually ruins Dawson. He so wins Jewel's confidence and love that she is willing to kill Dawson at Marchmont's request. Finally, Marchmont leaves the scheming couple to their own misery and marries Jewel's sister, Ruth Marsh.

After dodging the speed cops, Barry Macklin arrives in his hometown of Hillsboro, where he is supposed to act as negotiator between his father, Andrew Macklin, and the mayor, Ezra Sprowl.

Hale Garrison, a big game hunter returning from safari in Africa, meets Gloria Manner on shipboard and falls in love with her. Influenced by the atmosphere of revelry and gin on the high seas, they undergo a mock marriage ceremony performed by the ship's captain. Gloria is met at the dock by a suitor whom she still plans to marry, but Hale, insisting that he and Gloria are legitimately married, "kidnaps" her. He takes her to a mountain lodge, and her former fiancé hires a thug to kill him. The thug throws Hale into a raging river, from which he is rescued by an Indian guide. The thug is later killed when the car in which he is abducting Gloria crashes near the river. Hale and Gloria are reunited and decide to remain together, having learned to love each other.

Harry Willis returns to Helen Hendon discouraged by his failure to make a fortune in 6 months as he promised. Accepting a job that will pay him $10,000 for following instructions for a day, Harry soon finds himself in a series of adventures that include an imbroglio at a costume ball, a doctor's attempts to transplant a gorilla's brains into his head, and a brawl in a temple with some Chinese who want a small idol belonging to him. When he applies for a marriage license, Harry discovers that these incidents were created to test his capacity to become a movie star. He wins both Helen and a movie contract.

Pat Winthrop becomes engaged to Bob Shelby, a southerner who owns Kentucky Boy, a horse entered in the Nassau Handicap. To save her father from going to jail, Pat later breaks her engagement to Bob and accepts the proposal of Darrell Thornton, a smooth bounder insincere in racing as in love. Bob owes Thornton money, and, the night before the handicap, Thornton attaches Kentucky Boy. Bob steals the horse from his stall, and Bob's jockey rides him to victory. The purse saves Pat's father from jail and allows Bob to repay Thornton. Pat and Bob are married.

Alec Craig has a good position in a manufacturing company, however, is brought close to financial ruin by his wife and daughter, who live beyond their means and who have fallen prey to installment sharks. Grant Elliot, an aviator, loves Ruth and waits for the day when his invention will be a success so that they can marry. To delay the installment collector, Ruth illegally pawns a ring that is not yet paid for. She is tricked by Howard Steele, an agent of real estate speculators, into divulging information on the location of a valuable site on which the company has taken an option. The company blames Craig for the leak, and he is fired. The collector calls for the ring and finds that it has been pawned. Ruth, realizing she has been tricked, gets even with Steele by taking him up and making him stay up in an airplane past the time when the option expires. Craig's widowed sister and her son, Gene, redeem the ring and make Ruth and her mother promise never to fall prey to installment sharks again. Ruth's flight has proved the value of Grant's invention, and their future is assured.

Dr. James Leland, a wealthy and philanthropic young physician who inherited his father's fortune, spends much of his time entertaining children in New York City hospitals. His secretary and business manager, Hugh Powell, also inherited from his father, is secretly allied with dope peddler Buck Sanders. Assisting Hugh is Ruth Wheeler, Dr. Jim's unfaithful fiancée. When Dr. Jim catches his secretary stealing drugs, Hugh knocks him unconscious and, believing he is dead, dumps him in the river. Dr. Jim regains consciousness but loses his memory and develops a dual personality: first as "Jimmy," who assists Marion Nord in running her father's East Side medical clinic, then as "Black Flash," a mysterious bandit who supports the clinic by robbing wealthy gamblers. Hugh bribes Buck and his men to kidnap Marion, but Jimmy becomes aware of the plot. The police arrive to apprehend the culprits, but not before Jimmy is again knocked unconscious. Dr. Jim recovers his memory and returns to his rightful place in society with Marion by his side.

When a stranger named Smith arrives at Don Luis Alvarado's Southern California ranch looking for work, he is hired as a hand. Smith and the Don's beautiful daughter, Senorita Carmelita, become attracted to each other until one night, when Carmelita surprises Smith as he and a gang of thieves are stealing her family's jewels. Smith is arrested, along with the thieves, but his true identity is established in court when he reveals that he is Michael Cochrane, a U.S. marshal who infiltrated the gang of thieves to obtain a conviction. He brings the gang to justice and marries Carmelita.

Reared by Montgomery Rogers as his own child, Emerie Rogers seeks to marry a titled Englishman, as instructed by Aunt Gertrude. On an ocean liner she meets Dick Clark and later turns to him when Rogers' death reveals her to be the daughter of servants and leaves her penniless. Emerie returns to her parents, the Pages, and her happiness is complete when Rogers' second will leaves the bulk of his estate to her.

Corinne Adams, a young American girl touring Egypt, meets a British soldier, Maj. Egerton, in Cairo, and they fall in love. She doesn't know that the major is suffering from a terminal illness. They and some friends take a trip into the desert and are attacked by a Bedouin tribe. The women are captured and the major is knocked out and left for dead. Can British troops arrive in time to save the women from a fate worse than death?

A young man is sent by his father to Mexico to investigate his mine. On the way he meets a girl, whose life he has already once saved, who is traveling to the same place. He is kidnapped by some men who are misdirecting the mine shipments, and escapes in time to save the girl from death.

Roy Thomas tries to obtain evidence of smuggling to prevent his father from ending up in jail.

Jane Brower wants nothing more than to leave behind her ranch life in the West and go East. When she happens upon a party in the private railroad car of wealthy August Van Dorn, Jane gets the idea to finance her trip by kidnapping his son, Donald, for ransom. While Jane is negotiating with the senior Van Dorn, his son is kidnapped by two bandits. Donald soon escapes and seeks out Jane, with whom he has fallen in love. After Donald rescues Janes from the bandits, they decide to marry and spend their honeymoon in New York City.

Grand Duke Alexis of Russia possesses two priceless emeralds, known as the Drums of Jeopardy, which allegedly exert a sinister power over their owner. They are willed to the duke's private secretary, Jerome Hawksley, who brings them to New York City and places them in the care of Banker Burrows. Bolshevik secret agent Gregor Karlov steals the jewels, kills Burrows, and kidnaps Jerome. The banker's daughter, Dorothy Burrows, assisted by Cutty, a member of the U.S. Secret Service, trail Karlov to a café and he is killed in the ensuing battle. Jerome recovers the jewels, and he marries Dorothy.

Harvey, a cub reporter for the Morning Times, determines to recover the stolen Sacred Jewel of Buddha and scoop his competitors. He eventually discovers that the jewel is being held by a Chinese criminal tong--which is also holding hostage a beautiful young girl they have kidnapped as a hostage for the return of the jewel. Harvey sets out to take back both the jewel and the girl and get out of Chinatown alive.

After young Robert Wade throws a lavish party at the family ranch, his father, Dent Wade, sends Bob to California to mend his wastrel ways by making a success of the family's faltering ranch in California. During the trip, Bob and his friend, Chub Biggs, are robbed of their papers. Upon their arrival at the ranch, they discover that manager Russ DeLaine is not happy that they have come. Unknown to Bob and his father, DeLaine has been embezzling the ranch profits. When two of DeLaine's men become rough with Bob and Chub, DeLaine's daughter Margy intervenes, and soon she and Bob fall in love. Sometime later, after Bob finds his stolen papers in DeLaine's safe, he gives them to Chub to take to the local sheriff. Meanwhile, Blacky, one of DeLaine's henchmen, kidnaps Margy. Bob comes to her rescue, knocking Blacky into a pit during a fight. As he is dying, Blacky informs Bob that DeLaine is not Margy's real father. Later, Bob proves himself to his newly arrived father and the sheriff when he captures the escaping DeLaine.

Reggie Dillingham, a socialite who has squandered all but $70,000 of his million-dollar inheritance, is upbraided by his attorney, who bets the young man that he cannot support himself for six months. The attorney invests the remaining funds while Reggie sets out to find a job. He fails at his first few attempts, but when he photographs newspaper publisher and political boss Clint Taggart in a compromising situation, Reggie is hired as managing editor to maintain his silence. Immediately after taking charge, Reggie liberalizes the paper's editorial policy and falls in love with Clint's secretary, Mary Ryan. With Mary's help, Reggie discovers that their boss is involved in a bootlegging operation and uses Clint's own paper to expose him. Despite threats from his employer, Reggie refuses to resign, and employs the help of his loyal staff in resisting the bootlegger's thugs. Following Clint's arrest, Reggie is informed by his lawyer that his money has been doubled through a fortunate investment.

Pretending to be an outlaw, Marshal Dan Paterson joins the Carson gang. They're holding young Alice Allison captive, but when Dan tries to help her, Alice--not knowing who he is--doesn't trust him. Dan must gain her trust before he can rescue her and help destroy the gang.

Patsy is the akward sister of the lovely Grace. She is also in love with Grace's boyfriend. Mother shows favoritism towards Grace, and father is too accomidating to stand up for Patsy, although he knows she is picked on. When they are all at supper, Grace runs away on a motorboat with a millionaire playboy. During a deep talk with Grace's boyfriend, Patsy reveals that she is in love with somebody who doesn't know she exists. He vows to teach her how to get the guy because "There is no reason for a girl to be hopelessly in love". During this hilarious process, he falls in love with her.

After severely injuring his foreman in a fight, railroad worker Art Flanders flees to the desert, where he finds companionship with a dog named Rex, and later, with Black Beauty, a runaway horse. In their search for water, the three come upon a stream on the property of Lorraine Estes, owner of a mine claim that Jed Hawkins plans to usurp. While Art does the manual labor necessary to register the claim, Jed sends several of his men to dynamite the mine. They are thwarted by Art and Black Beauty, who also bring Jed to justice. One year later, Art and Lorraine are married with a baby, and Rex is father to a litter of puppies. Black Beauty is relegated to flirting with a hobby horse.

Disowned by her family for marrying beneath her class, Alice Larkin lives in a modest home with her husband, John, and their children. Meanwhile, wealthy Ethel Lewis is separated from her husband, Robert, because she refuses to have children. On Ethel's behalf, a lawyer offers Alice $50,000 in exchange for the adoption of her youngest child, Louise. After Alice reluctantly accepts, Ethel presents the child to Robert as their own. Alice visits the Lewis home frequently, rekindling Robert's long-dormant romantic feelings for her. John is consumed with jealousy and attempts to shoot Robert, but accidentally hits Louise. Alice then awakens to find that it was a horrible dream. She refuses the lawyer's offer just as her Aunt Martha enters with apologies and Christmas presents.

María Valdez, known as the Virgin of San Blas because of her charitable acts and great beauty, falls in love with David Kent, an American who is in Spain to investigate the death of his father years earlier. María and Kent set the date for a wedding, but Ricardo Ruiz, an excellent duelist and rake who desires to marry María to recoup his fortunes, informs the girl that her father was killed by Kent's father in the distant past. María then decides to avenge the family honor and immediately enters into a companionate marriage with Ricardo. Kent goes to María seeking an explanation for her sudden change of heart, and Ricardo finds them together. He challenges the American to a duel, instructing his valet to shoot Kent if he seems to be gaining the advantage. But in the course of the duel, Kent extinguishes the candles, and the valet inadvertently kills Ricardo. María and Kent are reconciled and make plans to be married.

Robert Lanning, a proper Bostonian who owns an estate in southern New Mexico, suspects that some of his employees are smuggling arms into Mexico, and sends his son, Robert Jr., to investigate. During his journey west, Robert meets Mary Hamilton, a stranded actress from a roadshow company of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Because Mary is still in costume as the character, "Little Eva," Robert mistakes her for a child and takes her with him to the ranch. He ultimately discovers the identity of the arms smugglers and, with the help of the Mexican Rurales, brings the gang to justice. Robert then realizes that Mary is not a child and wins her for his wife.