The Wayward Son

Artist Standish using his wife Mary as his model finishes a painting of the Madonna. When the Connoisseur and the Parishioner inspect the picture, the Connoisseur tells Standish that the model was a one-time paramour. Buying the painting they depart. Standish confronts Mary, who tells him that she believed herself legally married to the Connoisseur. Unbelieving he ejects her and their baby son. Penniless Mary leaves her boy on the steps of a monastery. Years later before becoming a monk the boy is sent to see the world. Wandering into a café he is seduced by Beauty as the other inmates of the place, Lust, Rum, Avarice and Passion dance around him. The proprietor enters; it is Mary. Recognizing the crucifix, she left with him as a baby she persuades him to go back without revealing her identity. After he becomes a priest Mary, now a bedraggled old woman enters his church. She recognizes him and just before she dies her son gives her absolution.

Karsten Bernick is a wealthy Norwegian shipping tycoon and community leader who hides a past built on lies and moral hypocrisy. He was involved in a youthful affair in Paris with a married Bohemian actress; Bernick let his brother-in-law take the blame and fled to America, while also spreading a rumor that the man stole family money. When the wronged brother-in-law returns home years later demanding that Bernick clear his name Bernick tries to protect his social standing and financial empire from ruin, forcing a dramatic reckoning with his deceit.

Mary Manning lives in the Wisconsin woods with her stern old grandfather, an uncle, and her mother who, for eighteen years has daily looked for the return of her husband. Into the drab life comes Tom Gale, who gives the girl her first taste of pleasure.

A recently widowed and destitute young mother (Jane Novak) appeals to her wealthy and heartless father-in-law (Robert Edeson) for financial aid. Instead, he convinces her to hand over her new baby to his care so that the child will be brought up with "everything money can buy." Unbeknownst to the grandfather, we learn that there are twin sons and our heroine keeps one baby to raise herself. The narrative jumps ahead to the boy's twenty-first birthday and we see what's become of them. Not surprisingly, the wealthy son has grown up spoiled and greedy while the poor one works hard and loves his mother.

In 1941, folklorist Alan Lomax traveled from the Library of Congress to the Mississippi Delta to record an oral history of the blues. Equipped with 500 pounds of audio equipment powered by his car battery, he ventured across nameless roads to discover the most beautiful and harrowing songs ever sung.

Ruth and her father stay at an inn run by the malicious Scroogles. The Scroogles rob Ruth's father, throw his seemingly dead body over a cliff, and deny he was ever there when Ruth asks. Ruth seeks help from artist Richard Foster. Together, they find evidence, confront the Scroogles, leading to a struggle where Mr. Scroogles accidentally kills his wife before being shot and dying himself. Ruth and Foster (now engaged) find her father alive but dazed; he recovers, and adopts a mistreated girl from the inn. The traumatic "empty room" incident leaves a lasting impression on Ruth.

Jacqueline Laurentine Boggs, the daughter of an American hog farmer, is schooled in France and comes to stay with an English family. There she brings a dose of reality to her snobby hosts.

Shakespeare Clancy is a jailbird who walks out with a crowd of visitors about the time "Skeeter" Burns, the prison printer, is discharged. Learning that a legacy awaits them in Dodson, the pair depart for the small Western town. Discovering that the bequest consists of a failing county newspaper and a plot of barren land, they hatch a plan to fleece the townspeople by selling shares in a bogus oil well. Problems arise when Clancy falls in love with society editor Alice Whitney. Clancy is conflicted but then they do strike oil! Concluding that his destiny is to be an honest man, Clancy returns to jail to finish serving his term. Slipping into the crowd of visitors, he dons his prison clothes and resumes work as though nothing had happened.

War buddies Whitey and Skeeter have become safecrackers. On a job, Skeeter is surprised by the police and killed. Later Whitey discovers that the lowlife Mal is the police informer responsible for Skeeter's death. Whitey sets out to find his moll Kitty, hearing she has gone to the country to find peace and quiet he finds her in a small town. She is involved with bank clerk Fred Morton, so Whitey pretends he has found someone else too. When Mal arrives in town as the advance man for a con and he pursues Skeeter’s sister Evelyn, Kitty tells the story of her own criminal past to save her. Fred drops her, and Kitty tries to drown herself in the river. Whitey saves her life and exposes Fred as an embezzler.

Princeton Hadley feels obligated to pay alimony to Judith, the widow of his deceased friend Billy Westover, due to favors Billy had done for him in the past, even though the law doesn't require it. Billy had lost his fortune and was recently divorced from Judith before his untimely death in an accident. Princeton later meets Judith, unaware of her identity, and falls in love with her.

Doris is driven from her small New England fishing village when a jealous admirer implies that her mild flirtation with visiting artist Stuart Kendall was an intimate love affair. Arriving in New York, alone and penniless, Doris finds employment in a Greenwich Village café, where she again meets Stuart and agrees to become his model. Unaware of his true intentions, Doris lives at Stuart's expense and innocently evades his advances. Out West, rancher Jack Masterson sees Doris' face on a poster and journeys East to propose to her.

Hal Whitney, an irresponsible young millionaire, befriends Timothy Payne, a wise old college professor whose life had been ruined by alcohol. After "adopting" Timothy as his father, Hal introduces him to his sweetheart, Helen Maynard. The outraged Helen breaks their engagement, certain that Timothy will be a bad influence on her hard-drinking fiancé. However, both men assist in each other's reformation, and Hal is soon reunited with Helen, while Timothy marries Hal's mother, Elizabeth, whom he had loved in his youth.

Genevieve Connors, a young woman from the slums who is given a chance at a better life through the help of a wealthy family, but faces class prejudice and is later involved in a criminal plot.

Joe Morgan, a previously respectable worker, becomes a town drunkard, losing his job and neglecting his family due to the influence of the local tavern, the "Sickle and Sheaf". Joe's daughter, Little Mary, frequently comes to the bar to beg her father to return home. During a confrontation in the bar, a thrown glass hits Little Mary, resulting in her death. Devastated by the death of his child, Joe vows revenge but reforms, ending his addiction and reuniting with his family.

Lucy Fay leaves her husband, Richard, a fireman, for a suave politician, Perry Dunn. Richard compensates for the loss by adopting Drina, a baby girl whose mother perished in a fire. Drina develops into a beautiful young lady and becomes a model at a modiste shop owned by Dunn and managed by Lucy. Dunn is attracted to Drina and plots to get her alone by giving her a drugged drink. An untimely fire interferes with his plans, leaving Drina drugged and trapped by flames in Dunn's room, where she is sleeping.

A gentleman thief has for a sweetheart and accomplice a maid, whose plan it is to get employment in a house and tip him off as to the lay of the land.

Set in London (but filmed in New Jersey), the story endeavors to prove that man's greatest enemy is liquor. When elderly tosspot John Warriner is shot for trespassing, Warriner's son holds property owner Sir Arthur Stanton. Thus begins a bitter and deadly feud between the Warriner and Stanton clans, fueled by rotgut booze.

Claire Barrington falls heir to a famous racing stable with many debts, whose payment is dependent upon the sweepstakes in which the horse Wildfire is entered.

Popular actress Violet Ray endures an abusive, alcoholic husband, Jim, for the sake of their deceased child's memory. She finds solace in an innocent friendship with Mabel Wright, a 10-year-old florist's daughter who brings her violets daily. A persistent suitor, Alec Lang, urges Violet to leave Jim for him. After Mabel is hit by a car and hospitalized, her father delivers a final bunch of violets and a message to Violet. This act of devotion rekindles Violet's sense of duty and "wifely love," prompting her to reject Alec and commit to remaining true to her daughter's memory while at Mabel's bedside.

Edith Adams, burdened by her family’s financial struggles, faces pressure from her mother to marry well.