A young girl who lives by the sea with her parents, is the object of one fellows affection. One day she meets a wily artist painting on the beach, he seduces the young girl and gives her a ring, with the promise of marriage. When the young admiring fellow comes to propose, she proudly announces her engagement to the artist. Shocked he leaves and her parents demand meeting her husband to be. She goes to bring him home, and finds he already has a sophisticated fiancée. Distraught she hurries home, and when her father realizes what she has done, he orders her out of the house. As she wanders despondent along the sea, the young fellow who has found out about her betrayal, immediately goes to see her. Finding she has been disowned by her father, he goes looking for her...

Thieves decide to steal the money an old miser has hidden away. He refuses to open the safe for them, so they threaten to kill a little girl who lives in his building.

After the Civil War, an ex-soldier and his family settle in the Dakota Territory. The son quarrels with the father and leaves home. Riding in the hills, he spots a band of Indians attacking a neighboring homestead, and he races back to warn his family as the Indians chase him.

Joe, "The Bad Man of San Fernand," is one tough customer. He sets his sights on a lovely young lady who spurns his advances and elopes with a fresh-faced young cowpoke. An angry Joe eventually gets his revenge.

Union soldiers march off to battle amid cheering crowds. After the battle turns against the Union Army, one soldier runs away, hiding in his girlfriend's house. Ashamed of his cowardice, he finds his courage and crosses enemy lines to bring help to his trapped comrades.

A father, anxious for his son's financial well being, develops a special soda pop called Dopokoke which is laced with cocaine. Dopokoke is advertised as relief "for that tired feeling." The drink is a success, but the son becomes addicted to it, much to his father's regret. Loosely based on the allegations that the Coca-Cola company and other soft drink manufacturers laced their soda with dope.

Griffith intercuts between the lives of two couples married on the same day. One couple is rich, the other is poor. Time passes, and in desperation over joblessness, the poor husband attempts to burgle a home, only to be captured a gunpoint by the mistress of the house. It is the home of the rich couple. While holding the poor intruder at gunpoint, the rich wife accidently discovers evidence implicating her own husband in a bribery scheme . . .