Rival telephone crews are in a race to be the first to connect telephone service between Rawlings and Cheynne, Wyoming. Lineman Tom Remington's girlfriend is the daughter of one crew foreman, who wants to win the race in order to re-establish himself in the business. However, the foreman of the other crew has his own scheme to win the race, and will stop at nothing-including kidnapping-to accomplish it.
A US Army officer is sent undercover into the hills of Mexico's Baja California region to find and bring down the madman Crando and his group of crazed followers, who are setting up their own criminal empire spreading from Mexico into the United States.
The story tells of the adventures of an unusual young duke, whose father, the old Grand Duke of Kiev, coveted the wife of Count Dardinilis, his colonel of Huzzars; of the old Grand Duke's plot to get her for himself; of her accidental death at the hands of his Cossacks, and of the colonel's escape with his little daughter to America. The young Grand Duke, now an orphan, comes to America to complete his education.
Dick Rainboldt (Carey) signs up to work at a gold mine without realizing that he's being hired as a strikebreaker. He takes the job primarily because of a pretty girl who lives in the town. The superintendent and manager of the mine convince Rainboldt to blow up the mine and make it appear like the strikers did it. But Rainboldt turns the tables on the plotters and reveals their scheme. The mine owner rewards him with a big assignment and the girl promises to marry him.
Francelia Billington and Dorothy Gish battle outlaw Ralph Lewis out on the range with assistance from ranch foreman Donald Crisp.
Yano is a small delivery boy for his uncle, who keeps a curio shop in Chinatown. His loves are Tama, his sweetheart, and Bengi, his dog. Bengi is seized by dog catchers, but is rescued by Letty Stanford, for which Yano promises his fealty. Later Letty is kidnapped by Germans because of her war activities, and it is Yano who goes to her rescue and gets her free in spite of his diminutive size. The Little Japanese has paid his debt.
Rooly, Pooly and Dooly were "picture sandwiches," but hardly shining lights, even in that capacity. Consequently they were "canned" by the management. A brilliant idea; one would play the wild man in the village square, a real live show of their own. Rooly and Pooly then basked in the society of fair country belles, but Dooly at length was rescued by Miss Smart, looking for excitement. She was not disappointed.
Peter Jones is a young man who arrives on Broadway from Chillicothe, Ohio, hoping to invest $20,000 in a play and turn a profit sufficient to buy a local hotel back home. He is conned by Joe Lehman and Jack McClure into backing their play with a 49-percent stake. The play opens out-of-town in Syracuse and bombs. Lehman and McClure want out, and Jones buys them out
A theatrical troupe from the west end of London loses its leading lady when she goes off to marry a rich young man from the other side of town. The rest of the play deals with the budding romance and trials and tribulations of their love, as well as the changing face of late-19th-century theatre.