Jean Valjean est un bagnard emprisonné pour un simple vol de pain parce qu'il était affamé. Il parvient à s'échapper et sur sa route, il rencontre un homme d'église qui changera sa vie. Il devient peu à peu un homme en vue de la ville où il s'est installé sous un faux nom pour échapper à son passé. La jeune Cosette que les vils Thénardiers exploitent à leur service, est recueillie par Valjean qui en prendra soin quant à son éducation. Mais l'inspecteur Javert, Policier obtus et convaincu que l'âme humaine ne peut changer, reconnaît en Valjean l'ancien détenu et veut à tout prix le compromettre...
A newspaper man, Larry Doyle and a young woman, Anne Olgivie, meet by chance in a coffeeshop. She hasn't got the money to pay, and he pays for her without being seen. In the telegraphic office, where she wants to send a wire to her mother asking to send her some money as she is broke, she is not permitted to send it, but he followed her and read the thrown away message. On the street waiting the light for the pedestrians to switch, it seems as if she throws herself under a car, but he make it look as if she embraces him wildly.
Marcia (Joan Crawford) is a young socialite who shares her New York home with her alcoholic grandmother, Fanny Townsend (Edna May Oliver). Marcia is a firm believer that a couple should be faithful to one another, unlike her peers who do not feel so strongly. Marcia meets Jim (Franchot Tone), who agrees with her on the subject of a couple's monogamy and pursues her. Marcia, however, decides to pursue Sherry (Robert Montgomery), whom Marcia sees as a challenge and seeks to cure him of his philandering nature.
Country girl Loretta Dalrymple (Marion Davies) arrives in New York City and gets a job as a chambermaid in a luxurious hotel, the same hotel in which con man "Click" Wiley (Pat O'Brien) and his photographer partner Ed Olsen (Frank McHugh) are three weeks in arrears. Desperate to avoid being evicted by the assistant manager, Mr. Yates (Berton Churchill), Click has Ed make a composite photograph by combining the best features of several renowned Hollywood beauties and enters the resulting fake under the name "Dawn Glory" in a nationwide beauty contest for the $2500 prize. Dawn Glory wins.
The film focuses on a run-down boarding house in London, home to an assorted group of residents. Many of them cling precariously to their social positions with only one figure, the wealthy self-made businessman Mr Wright, being truly successful. The house is owned by the grasping Mrs Sharpe, who mistreats the maid, Stasia, a rehabilitated juvenile delinquent. The various members of the household are miserable and openly sneering and rude towards each other, the one exception being the respect shown by all to the powerful Mr Wright. In the case of one couple, Major Tomkin and his wife, this involves pressuring their daughter Vivian to marry Wright in spite of her obvious horror at the idea.
Max de Mirecourt, écrivain célèbre fatigué des frasques de sa femme, part en voyage en Tunisie chercher l'inspiration. Il rencontre là-bas la belle Aouïna, dont la personnalité l'intrigue à tel point qu'il décide d'en faire le personnage principal de son prochain roman, Civilisation. Ayant inculqué les bonnes manières à la jeune fille, il la ramène à Paris, en la présentant comme la « Princesse Tam Tam », venue tout droit de son Inde natale. Un stratagème destiné en grande partie à rendre jalouse sa femme Lucie, car il sait qu'elle courtise le Maharadjah de Datane.
Musical stage star Mona Leslie (Jean Harlow), jailed for reckless driving, is bailed out by her friend, sports promoter and gambler Ned Riley (William Powell), to headline a charity event. However, she finds that all the seats have been bought by wealthy Bob Harrison Jr. (Franchot Tone), president and only member of S.A.M.L. (the Society for the Admiration of Mona Leslie). Mona begins dating Bob, with Ned's approval. Mona's Granny (May Robson) tells Ned that her granddaughter would break it off if he asked her to. Ned is reluctant at first, but eventually buys a wedding ring. However, he is too late.