Robert Z. Leonard directed Griffith in a story based on a popular 1905 Victor Herbert operetta on Broadway, Mlle. Modiste, with a libretto by Henry Martyn Blossom, which was similar to the MGM film The Merry Widow. The film is now considered a lost film. The story was refilmed in 1930 as the talkie Kiss Me Again.
A young mother, Mildred, doesn't know that her husband Walter is cheating on her. One night she attends a party with a friend of her husband's, and the man gets drunk and begins groping her when they get home. Her husband sees this and uses it as an excuse to sue his wife for divorce. In the ensuing trial he wins, due to fraudulent evidence, and gets custody of the child. Complications ensue.
Left penniless by her vengeful ex-husband, Madeline is forced to become a pickpocket to pay for a new wardrobe. One of her victims is a Mr. Finlay, who threatens to turn her over to the police -- until he hears Madeline's woeful tale of her cruel, possessive husband.
In Czarist Russia, a young peasant boy is sent to Siberia for insulting the Grand Duchess. Released years later, he joins the fighting to overthrow the royal family. The entire royal family is condemned to death when fighting ceases.
The last of the impetuous Varicks, Lady Helen Haden is married to Sir Bruce Haden, a brute who treats her shamefully. She falls in love with Ned Thayer, a young American, but refuses to divorce her husband because of the attendant scandal and disgrace. Sir Bruce gains possession of a love letter written to Ned by Lady Helen and divorces her. Ned goes to Africa, and Lady Helen comes to the United States, where she encounters Rudolph Solomon, an art collector who wants her to become his mistress. The noblewoman at first refuses, but when her money runs out, she agrees to the proposal and attends a party at his home. Ned, who has learned of the divorce, comes looking for Helen and meets her at Solomon's party. Lady Helen is so humiliated and ashamed that she rushes from the house and throws herself in front of an automobile.
When her husband marches off to war, Mariana is left in charge of the ancestral castle and is thus on hand when an invading Austrian regiment makes the castle its headquarters.
Infatuation is based on Caesar's Wife, a story by Somerset Maugham. Dazzlingly British socialite Viola Morgan falls madly in love with professional soldier Sir Arthur Little at a dinner party. The two marry, and before long Viola has relocated to Egypt with her husband. Soon bored by her hothouse existence, Viola succumbs to the attentions of young British attache Ronald Perry.
Susan Adams, who works as a pianist in a Broadway music store, has ambitions for a stage career. Arthur Bennett, famous theater producer and successful star-maker, calls her into his office to complain about her loud piano under him, and she haughty replies that if he gives her a chance on stage, she will do it.
Babs Comet is employed by the classified ad department of the daily paper and uses her looks and position to get a husband.
