Poet Raphael de Valentin is down on his luck until a friend introduces him into society. He meets the Countess Fedora, and after she reads his poems, his work becomes an overnight sensation.

Wealthy clubman Richard Dorian is a lighthearted soul who can't seem to take anything seriously, including his wife. Even when they decide to divorce, he meets the lawyers with a smile. When one of the attorneys suggests a charge of brutality, Mrs. Dorian points out that it is ludicrous. Dorian offers to have a party on his yacht, during which he will try very hard to be brutal to her to give her grounds for the divorce. Among the partygoers are Mrs. Dorian's guardian and Morgan, a smuggler who is buying the yacht. The guardian, who has squandered Mrs. Dorian's money on the stock market, kills himself. Dorian thinks that his wife killed him, gallantly takes the blame himself, and dives overboard. He becomes a tramp and is shanghaied by Morgan's men to become a stoker on his former yacht. Dorian's steward, Puck, is still onboard, and he tells Dorian that the guardian committed suicide.

Thomas Singleton broke down when his wife died giving birth to their daughter. He eventually recovered, but his half-brother Morse kept him locked up at the asylum. After seventeen years, Singleton escapes and tracks down his daughter, Virginia, who is due to inherit a fortune on her eighteenth birthday. Convinced that his half-brother will try to trick Virginia out of her inheritance, Singleton sends her to live with his former gardener......