In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.
When Marie St. Clair believes she has been jilted by her artist fiance Jean, she decides to leave for Paris on her own. After spending a year in the city as a mistress of the wealthy Pierre Revel, she is reunited with Jean by chance. This leaves her with the choice between a glamorous life in Paris, and the true love she left behind.
The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.
During the Russian Revolution, a young nobleman and his peasant maid flee from their homeland to Constantinople where they marry and begin a challenging new life.
Madeleine steals a string of pearls in Paris and uses American engineer Tom, who is driving on his vacation to Spain, to get the pearls out of France. But getting the pearls back from him proves to be difficult without falling in love.
On an ocean liner crossing a professional gambler comes to the aid of a naive young man victimized by a jewel thief. The young man turns out to be his son he's not seen since infancy.
A despairing clown suffering a broken heart and a self-indulgent count who uncontrollably laughs learn to help each other with their problems, but both fall in love with the same young woman.
A chic American jewel thief falls in love with one of her marks, an English lord.