Papa Strauss, a widower, is being shifted around from one married-son's home to the other, and is unwelcome at all because his daughter-in-laws' object to his smelly pipe smoking. Finally the family tucks him 'out of sight and out of mind' into a nursing home, with very little 'honor thy father' thought given to it. However, unmarried daughter, Lena, who loves her father dearly, has a bright fiancée, who makes a lot of money off of a patent, and they make a home for him.

The old men meet a young girl, broke, hungry and discouraged, in the park. Colonel Henry Randolph Ransome (Henry B. Walthall) bluffs his way into obtaining enough money to support the welfare of the girl,Rose Wentworth (Sally Blane), and his two cronies. He sends for the girl's former sweetheart, who turns out to be a crook.

The owner of a large mansion in the country throws a costume party for some of his friends. However, the party turns sour when he is found stabbed to death in a closet. The police and a guest try to discover who committed the murder.

A reporter helps the police investigate the murder of a disagreeable and philandering actor who is found strangled to death in his theater dressing room with its door and window locked from the inside.

All 12 jury members who sent an innocent man to the gallows are gathered together for a demonstration of how convictions can be made on circumstantial evidence. During the proceedings, a phony murder is quickly revealed as the real thing.

A beautiful blonde makes a career out of seducing and then blackmailing wealthy married men. She is found murdered after demanding a $5000 payoff from her latest victim, and the detective investigating the case finds out that she was involved in a lot more than just blackmail.

A cattle baron takes in an orphaned boy and raises him, causing his own son to resent the boy. As they get older the resentment festers into hatred, and eventually the real son frames his stepbrother for fathering an illegitimate child that is actually his, seeing it as an opportunity to get his half-brother out of the way so he can have his father's empire all to himself.

A popular young student finds herself accused of a series of murders that have occurred on the college campus. Her boyfriend, a reporter for the local newspaper, knows she didn't do it, and and sets out to prove her innocence and catch the real killer.