Kenneth Reynolds tells Nelly’s daughter the story of his love for Nelly. Kenneth was in love with Nelly, but the arrival of a stranger drove Nelly and Kenneth apart. Nelly and her lover absconded, and Nelly's father then died of grief. After some time, Nelly returned with a child, and took her last breath in Kenneth’s arms. The daughter had to cry upon hearing this story, told by the now somewhat older Kenneth, after all these years.

Medical intern Robert Morley is distraught after his wife dies in childbirth. He's resentful of his new son and wants nothing to do with him. He leaves the child with his aunt and uncle and heads off to Europe to pursue his medical studies. Morley returns to his hometown six years later, now a successful doctor and engaged to be married to a beautiful socialite. He also feels differently about the boy and attempts to gain custody from his aunt and uncle.

Hardworking reporter Phyllis Dale has been hiding a seventeen year old secret. But when her wild daughter Bobby is removed from boarding school, it looks like the secret is out. That is, until Bobby introduces herself as the little sister to Phyllis' fiancé Lawrence and boss Roger. Yet Bobby is bound to cause mischief by flirting with everyone. And when she draws the attention of a philandering divorcee, she is bound for scandal! Will Phyllis be able to keep wild Bobby out of the Headlines?

Lindy, the lone Black girl in her class, is mostly ostracized by her classmates. When Lindy emerges as a heroine during a school fire, attitudes change.

Neglected by shallow husband Dick, young bride Paula Wayne seeks male companionship outside the marital nest. She soon finds it in the form of mature lover Frank Gordon. Lost film.

Genial Irish NYC policeman Tom O'Hara is looking forward to the arrival of his wife and their young son, Shandy from Ireland. Several days before the ship is to dock, O'Hara gets a radiogram informing him that his wife has died at sea. That night a burglar breaks into the Antigue & Second Hand Shop ran by Sol Bloom, directly below O'Hara's flat. The burglar shoots O'Hara, who has rushed to his friend's aid, and, with his last breath he asks Sol to take care of Shandy. When Shandy arrives, Sol immediately makes him a member of the family, which also consists of a very mischievous motherless boy named Joey Bloom, whose pursuits consist of stealing oranges from fruit-dealer Tony, and playing hookey from school. Tom Varney, the young beat cop, is in love with Ruth Sneider, whose mother runs a Cleaning and Dyeling establishment. Ruth, however, is momentarily dazed with worthless Dave Haller.

Chorus girl Rosa Carillo (Carmel Myers) finds herself in dire straits when the troupe she works with is disbanded and her last fifty dollars is stolen. Artist Billy Leeds (Earl Rodney) offers to take care of her, but she's leery of his proposition. Instead she finds work with an Italian grocer, Tony Bonchi (Edwin August). One of the other ex-members of the troupe has Tony arrested on a trumped up charge. Rosa returns to Billy and offers herself to him if only he'll get Tony out of jail.

In Cecil B. DeMille’s 1920 comedy Why Change Your Wife? Gloria Swanson (DeMille’s regular leading lady of this period) as Beth, a respectable and rather prim wife who discovers that husbands don’t necessarily want their wives to be respectable and moral. It’s not that he doesn’t love her; he just wants a little romance in his marriage, and when another woman comes along who offers him the excitement he craves, he inevitably strays. And divorce inevitable follows. Beth then has a sudden revelation – maybe it’s not only true that men like shameless hussies, but maybe it’s also true that shameless hussies have quite a lot of fun. So she decides to transform herself into a sexpot.