Norma Besant, daughter of a Southern doctor, is an incorrigible flirt and has many suitors. Her father Dr. Besant (John St. Polis) favors Stanley (Matt Moore), who is taken with Norma. However Norma has met a simple man named Michael Jeffrey (Johnny Mack Brown) who she has fallen madly in love with. Dr. Besant disapproves of Michael and orders Norma to never see him again. Norma gives him their word, then promptly plans to marry Michael in 6 months, when he's made 'good in the hills' so he can buy her a home in the valley.
Diana Merrick (Greta Garbo), Neville (John Gilbert) and David (Johnny Mack Brown) were playmates as children, members of the rich British aristocracy. Diana and Neville are in love, but his father (Hobart Bosworth) opposes the match, disapproving the Merrick family's lifestyle. Neville is sent to Egypt for business purposes and to become wealthy.
Naomi Murdoch abandons her husband and children in Wisconsin, setting off to become an actress and also to flee from an aggressive former suitor, Dutch Heineman. She decides to return 10 years later at the invitation of daughter Lily, who is appearing in a high school play and about to graduate.
John Sterling (Lewis Stone) takes his young wife Lillie (Greta Garbo) to Java where he plans to invest in tea plantations. Beyond the difference in years between the two, he is neglectful, which creates reactions of frustration from his romantic young wife.
Gambler Rid Riddell works for Tip Scanlon, a crooked gambler, who buys Tommy-Boy, a racehorse from a wealthy man whose spoiled wife loses interest. Tip and Rid consistently win with the horse in both honestly and dishonestly run races. But before long, Tommy Boy loses a race he wasn't supposed to, and the mob is after Tip.
Applejack Carney pulls from a shelf an album of records entitled "The Story of a Happy Marriage" and places the song "You Were Meant for Me" on the Victrola. Julie Adams, Applejack's old friend and owner of the album, asks him to turn off the tune and announces that she is leaving her husband Roger. After glancing at the nursery, Julie restarts the song and remembers meeting Roger years earlier: The same ballad is playing over the loudspeakers at the San Francisco music store where Julie works. When the record begins to skip, passerby Roger Adams enters the store and meets Julie. The two begin to date, and while at the beach one day, Julie breaks open a fortune cookie, which reads "you will get your wish --a baby." Roger, a confirmed bachelor who has no patience with children, hides his fortune, which predicts a "wedding soon," and replaces it with "you will always be a bachelor." Roger, a reporter, changes his mind, however, when he bursts into a New Year's Eve party with the news that his paper is assigning him to a post in Japan and asks Julie to marry him that evening. Knowing that they will not see each other for three months until Roger can earn enough money for Julie's passage to Japan, the newlyweds kiss goodbye in Roger's train compartment. As they embrace, the train pulls out, and as a result, Julie stays in Roger's compartment until the train stops the next morning. Three months later, when Julie is reunited with Roger in Japan, she reports that she is pregnant. Julie becomes concerned for the future of her family when she learns that Roger has lavishly furnished their house by spending advances on his salary. Later, when Roger inherits a small sum of money and announces that he has quit his job so that they can travel the world, Julie, disturbed by her husband's financial irresponsibility, goes upstairs to pack. At that moment, a violent earthquake strikes, demolishing the house and causing Julie to lose the baby. Roger and Julie return to San Francisco, and while hospitalized there, Julie learns that she will never be able to have children. Roger tries to console her by telling her that he wants to settle down and buy a small town paper, but Julie responds that a baby is all she ever wanted. Soon after, Roger buys the Rosalia Courier Press , and the couple moves into the apartment above the newspaper office, which is equipped with a small nursery. Roger hires their friend Applejack to manage the paper, but despite their hard work, circulation remains low. Two years later, while Roger is working late one night, Applejack encourages Julie to adopt a child, and when Roger returns home, Applejack prods him into agreeing to consider adoption. When Julie writes to the orphanage to request a two-year-old boy with curly hair and blue eyes, Mrs. Oliver, the administrator, interviews the prospective parents and later pays a surprise visit to their home. At first disapproving because the Adams house is a cluttered mess, Mrs. Oliver is charmed by the little nursery and tells Julie that a five-week-old baby girl is available for adoption. When Julie and Roger protest that they wanted a two-year-old boy, the age their own baby would have been, Mrs. Oliver assures them that this is the child for them. Roger and Julie consent to see the infant, and when Julie falls in love with the baby, Mrs. Oliver allows them to take her home for a one-year probation period. One year later, as the time for the adoption hearing approaches, Mrs. Oliver visits the family to update her records. When Julie admits that the paper has gone out of business and that Roger has no income, Mrs. Oliver solemnly caps her pen. Steeling themselves to return their baby, whom they have named Trina, to the orphanage, Roger bundles up the infant and proceeds to the judge's chambers. When the judge denies the adoption, Roger, near tears, begs to keep the little girl, pleading that she is like his own child. Moved by Roger's plea, the judge relents and grants the adoption, prompting Julie cheerily to proclaim that nothing can take Trina from them now. Years pass, and Trina's proud parents watch their daughter sing the echo to "Silent Night" in her school's Christmas play. When Trina slips on a platform while onstage, she worries that she will not be allowed to play an angel in the play the following year. The next Christmas, Mrs. Oliver receives a tragic letter from Julie, notifying her of Trina's death after a sudden, brief illness. Julie confides that Roger is punishing himself for Trina's fate and behaves like a stranger to her. At the Adams home, as Julie and Roger sit wordlessly in their living room, they hear a knock at the door. Julie answers it and finds a mother, frantic because her car is stalled and her son is due to perform in the school play. Julie and Roger offer to drive the mother and child to the play, and when the car arrives to the sound of children singing "Silent Night," Roger gets out and proclaims that he never again wants to see anybody or anything that reminds him of Trina. Julie's thoughts return to the present, and she takes the record off the turntable just as Applejack climbs the stairs to deliver her train ticket. At that moment, Roger returns, despondent, but as he picks up Julie's suitcase to drive her to the train station, the phone rings. It is Mrs. Oliver, calling to offer the couple a two-year-old boy, who is the image of the youngster they requested years earlier. Their faith and hope restored, Julie and Roger begin planning a new life with their son.
When concert pianist Sandra Kovak (Mary Astor) and her aviator husband Peter Van Allen (George Brent) discover their impulsive marriage is invalid because her divorce had not been finalized before they wed, he leaves her and marries his old flame Maggie Patterson (Bette Davis). Peter travels to Brazil on business and, when his aircraft goes missing, it is presumed it crashed in the jungle and he was killed.
The film is a romantic melodrama about two childhood friends who grow up to be soldiers in Germany. One of the friends, Leo (Gilbert), becomes infatuated with Felicitas (Garbo), the wife of a powerful count (a marriage about which Felicitas neglects to inform Leo). The count calls for a duel of honor with Leo, but insists that it be done under the false pretense that the quarrel was due to angry words exchanged between the two at a card game in order to protect the count's reputation. Leo kills the count in the duel, but then is punished by the military, being sent away to Africa for five years.
The film revolves around the lives of a cinema school student named Murphy, and his former girlfriend Electra, whom he dated for two years, before sleeping with another woman, Omi, who happened to get pregnant as a result of Murphy's infidelity. This unwanted pregnancy ended the relationship between Murphy and Electra on a very sad note. One rainy morning, Electra's mother, Nora, calls Murphy to ask him if he's heard from the young woman, because she hasn't for quite a while now, and given her daughter's suicidal tendencies, she is really worried. For the rest of this day, Murphy recalls his past with Electra, filled with drug abuse, rough sex, and tender moments.
James Wynnegate (Dustin Farnum) and his cousin, Henry (Monroe Salisbury), upper class Englishmen, have been made trustees for an orphans’ fund. Henry loses money in a bet at a derby and embezzles money from “the fund” to pay off his debts. When war office officials are informed of the money missing from “the fund”, they pursue James, but he successfully escapes to Wyoming. In Wyoming, James rescues Nat-U-Rich (Lillian St. Cyr), daughter to the chief of the Utes tribe, from local outlaw Cash Hawkins (William Elmer). Cash plans on exacting his revenge on James but has his plans thwarted by Nat-U-Ritch who fatally shoots him. Later, James gets into an accident in the mountains and needs to be rescued. Nat-U-Ritch tracks him down and carries him back to safety. As she nurses him back to health, they become lovers and have a child. During an exploration in the Alps, Henry falls off a cliff. Before he succumbs to his injuries, Henry signs a letter of confession proclaiming James’ innocence in the embezzlement. Before Henry's widow Lady Diana (Winifred Kingston) and others arrive at James and Nat-U-Ritch’s residence in Wyoming to tell James about the news, the Sheriff recovers the murder weapon that was used against Cash Hawkins inside of the couples’ residence. Nat-U-Rich, facing the possibilities of losing both her son and her freedom, decides to take her own life.
Yossi, a 34 years old closeted gay man, works as a cardiologist in a hospital in Tel Aviv. He has never completely recovered from the death of the love of his life, ten years before. Unhappy in his personal life, Yossi has thrown himself into his work. When not on call, the physician finds comfort in greasy take-out noodles and soft core gay porn.
The film begins by introducing Laurence (Melvil Poupaud), a 30-year-old man, who is an award-winning novelist and literature teacher in Montréal. Laurence is very much in love with her girlfriend, the fiery and passionate Fred (Suzanne Clément). On the day of her birthday, she reveals to Fred her biggest secret; she has felt for her entire life that she was born in the wrong body and says that she has been living a lie for so many years. She wishes to rectify her situation and restart her life as a woman. Fred accuses her of being gay and takes the news very hard. They separate for a short time, but Frédérique arrives at the conclusion, much to the chagrin of her mother and sister, that she must be there for Laurence. Their romance resumes and Frédérique becomes Laurence's biggest supporter. Frederique teaches Laurence how to do her makeup and buys her a wig. She urges Laurence to dress as her true self, in female clothing. Laurence shows up to work one day in a dress. All seemingly goes well until she is released from her position at the school due to the negative reception of her transformation. Fred falls into a state of depression and eventually leaves Laurence and moves away. Frederique marries another man, Albert, and has a son named Leo.