In a small town in Indiana in the 1890s, the domineering and ambitious Mrs. Biddle arranges a marriage between her spoiled daughter Thelma and the town's prize catch, harvester David Langston, who is wedded to the soil. David is friends with orphan Ruth Jameson and, although she is in love with him, he eventually gives in to the machinations of Mrs. Biddle and consents to marry Thelma. Meanwhile, technological advances come to town, including its first gasoline buggy, galvanic battery, and metal bathtub fitted with running water. When Mrs. Biddle tries to convince David to give up the farming life and join her husband in real estate, Mr. Biddle, hen-pecked and dissatisfied with city life, warns David against selling his farm.
Buddy Watson, the youngest of three brothers, and just getting accustomed to long pants, meets Elsie Forster at a church social and is smitten by the young lady's charms. He writes, addressing the letter simply, "Miss Forster," asking permission to call. Elsie gets the note and joyously answers "yes," but Grace, her sister, sees the letter and is quite sure he means her.
Molly, a glamorous clothing model in New York, though yearning for a life of luxury, spurns the advances of her boss's son in favor of a shipping clerk, late of the backwoods.
Working as a wardrobe girl in a cheap traveling stock company, Mamie Judd secretly loves Jenks, the leading man, who scarcely notices the young girl. She saves Neal Selden, son of a small-town banker, from being accused of robbery and murder, acts committed by the company's manager and leading lady.
While vacationing with his father Edward at a Palm Beach hotel, George Welston becomes smitten with Eve Pendleton, the daughter of Edward's business rival Judson. After George prevents Pendleton from getting an option on a deal by racing in his car with his father's $100,000 deposit, Pendleton favors Eve's other suitor, Arthur Trask, whose gentlemanly manner conceals his intent to rob Eve and her wealthy friends.
When newlywed Robert Ellis suspects that his missing wife is having a clandestine affair, he appeals to his friend, Pat Murphy, to find her. Pat's search leads him to the Waldorf-Astoria where he finds a woman named Edna Ellis and, assuming that she is Ellis' errant wife, kidnaps her and returns her to Ellis. Complications arise when the real Mrs. Ellis arrives home and discovers another woman. After several comic incidents, Pat falls in love with Edna and Ellis learns that his wife's secret rendezvous was with her sister.
In order to inherit their uncle's property, two cousins must marry each other.
Sonny Boy's parents are in the midst of a bitter divorce when the boy's mother talks her sister into kidnapping him because she is terrified that her husband will take the boy out of the country after the divorce.
When the painter Christopher Bean dies, some unscrupulous art dealers try to get several of his paintings cheaply from a family who have no idea of their value.
A woman objects to her bachelor friend getting married, so she makes him appear so ridiculous that the other woman refuses to marry him.
Maude Brooks is in love with an aviator, George Pinckney. Maude tells her father that she intends to marry George, as he is a splendid fellow, but her father will not listen to her. So she decides to elope. Maude meets George at the machine and together they fly up into the air. Mr. Brooks, who has been apprised of his daughter's intentions, starts in pursuit.