Extremely condensed version of the Mark Twain story of a royal heir and his poor doppelganger trading places.
Cecil Spooner
as The Prince / The Pauper
Charles Ogle
as
Mark Twain
as (as Samuel Clemens)
Mabel Trunnelle
William Sorelle
After a whirlwind romance Marion Phillips and Richard Flint marry impulsively without Richard realizing Marion is wealthy. Marion insists upon living in lavish style, but Richard, embittered by the cutting remarks made by his wife's snobbish friends leaves to seek his fortune in the mines. Marion follows but is soon bored. Persuaded by James Cardwell she goes back to her glamorous friends in the city before Richard strikes it rich. Determined to have his revenge upon Cardwell, Richard returns to New York crushing Cardwell on Wall Street but obliterating his wife's wealth in the process. The barrier that existed between them thus resolved; the lovers are reconciled.
Following a scandalous poker party, Douglas Kenyon acts as escort to Marcia Walsh, a showgirl whom he "wins" in a game. When it is discovered that she has spent the night in his apartment, though innocently, he is discharged from the bank where he works. He then is separated from his sweetheart, Jean Bronson, who becomes an actress when he plans to prosecute her grandfather. After many complications, including the heroine's rescue from an unscrupulous theatrical producer, the lovers are reunited.
Poverty-stricken John Hargrave is forced to beg employment from rich mill owner Roger Winton in order to save his sick mother's life. Winton refuses to help, and when Hargrave's mother dies, he swears revenge. Eighteen years pass and Hargrave is now owner of a large paper mill, in competition with Winton. Hargrave and Winton's son, Roger Jr., are also rivals for the same woman, Irene Foster, who desires Winton's love but Hargrave's money. Winton, Sr., in an attempted takeover of Hargrave's stock, bribes labor agitators to create turmoil in Hargrave's plant. Hargrave discovers the plot, foils the scheme and discovers Irene's disloyalty. Although stricken with blindness because of the agitation in his life, Hargrave finds true love with his secretary, Margaret Carlisle. Once his sight is restored, he marries Margaret.
An entomologist and his wife head out into the countryside for his studies and happen upon a group of free-spirited young dancers.
Impersonating Little Eva in a third-rate travelling production of Uncle Tom's Cabin fails to earn Nora enough for a square daily meal, and to make thing worse, her stage career comes to a sudden end when the sheriff arrives with a writ of seizure. Nora hops a passing freight but is frightened by a tramp, jumps off, and literally rolls into the town of Wattelville. After being arrested as a suspicious character, Nora is adopted by the kindly Ma Forbes, whose son James works in the local bank. "Pug" Hennessy and "Soup" McCool, two crooks, inveigle the scrupulously honest James into a poker game and, as a result, he is forced to steal $300 from the bank to cover his losses. Impersonating expert safe-cracker Velvet Mary, Nora helps the crooks to break into the bank, but upon opening the safe, she sounds the alarm, and the crooks are arrested. Having learned his lesson, James proposes to Nora, who never again is forced to go hungry.
Olive Muir, a haughty society girl, objects when Alice Prentice, a girl of lower station, comes to visit her family. After Alice's drunken father comes to visit the Muir home, Olive learns to her horror that she is adopted and that Prentice is her real father.
Obscured by modesty and the ethics of the old school, old Doctor Jones, a master of his profession, pursues his practice in the village of Condon. A shunner of publicity and fame, his wife's work is wrapped up in promoting the welfare of his fellow-beings.
At a boys' boarding school, young Stoddard and his pal "The Wop" develop a scheme to get rich after "The Wop" finds a pearl in an oyster in a restaurant.