Charles Perley

When Gregory Van Houten went to the country to recuperate, he intended to remain only a few weeks and then return to plunge into the swirl of city gaieties. But when Van Houten returned he brought with him a country-girl wife and set upon himself the seal of new duties and obligations.

As Poe's lover is slowly dying, he struggles to make money to care for her.

Steve Monteith and Ezra Mason, upper class men, and Bill Bronson, a plebe, are chums and roommates at West Point before the Civil War. Steve prepares to leave for his home in Virginia, and Mason and he exchange photographs before parting. General Abner Montieth, Steve's father, and his sister Clairette are overjoyed and surprised when Steve arrives. Aunt Margie and her adopted daughter, Joan Fitzhugh, who is very fond of Steve, join the family and give Steve a warm welcome. One year later the rumble of war is heard. Steve, now a major, and his father, General, leave at the head of separate companies with the Confederate troops.

Monty Gray returns to the US after spending 10 years building railroads in China. As he enters a hotel he runs into an old friend from college whom he hasn't seen in years, and they begin catching up on old times. Monty notices a picture of a young woman that his friend is carrying and, bowled over by her beauty, he instantly falls for her.

Beverly Calhoun is invited by her friend, Princess Yestive of Graustark, to pay her a visit. On her journey, she is waylaid by bandits, and becomes entangled in the political problems of a neighboring country, whose ruler Prince Dantan, has been ousted by his evil half-brother Gabriel. Dantan, disguised as a simple goat hunter, has been driven into hiding in the mountains with his followers. Beverly is rescued by his band of rebels, but is mistaken for Princess Yestive. Beverly and Dantan fall in love, but their romance is complicated, not only by the hostilities between the two countries, but also because neither of them knows the true identity of the other.

Millionaire Larry Prentiss inherits a ranch. He decides to visit his new property incognito and gets a job as a ranch-hand. He falls in love with the ranch foreman's daughter and complications ensue.

Lieut. Governor Oliver Barnitz accedes to the governorship when his predecessor, failing to call out the militia during a riot at the Wilmot plant, is shot and killed by terrorist Oliver Poole. Faced with the dilemma of whether or not to commute the assassin's death sentence, Barnitz falls into a troubled sleep and dreams of being forced to cast judgment on his father in a similar position.

Characters in the film attend a movie titled 'Life’s Mirror', where they see parallel, cautionary versions of their own lives. Only the first two of the original seven reels survive.

Ouida's novel made into a 1912 film -- released within days of another 2-reeler based on the same story.