An exceptionally capable girl, Trixie Joyce, proves a great help, to her mother, a widow with a large family of girls. They receive a proposition from Henrietta Joyce, Mrs. Joyce's wealthy sister-in-law, to take Trixie as a companion, feed and clothe her and in place of wages, send her mother an allowance sufficient to support the rest of the family. Both realize it is the solution of a hard problem, and Trixie accepts the offer. Henrietta is close-fisted and selfish in money matters, but she also has a strain of morbidly-romantic sentiment in her nature, so the largest part of Trixie's work is reading aloud to her mistress quantities of swashbuckling, mid-Victorian novels.

Lights of New York is a 1916 drama

When Rupert's uncle tells him he must quit his writing and offers him a real job in his tannery, the young man rises in his wrath and dramatically leaves his uncle's home, saying that he will go forth to the big city and carve out his fortune with his pen. After many hardships and cold rebuffs from the cruel publishers and editors he begins to despair

A short comedy in which Jimmy organizes a show with cowboys and Indians. The highlight is the arrival of Buffalo Bill on a donkey. Jimmy goes to Sunday school, where he scares the teacher with a frog. As a punishment, he is not allowed to go to the picnic.

Happy Jack, the popular Hash Magnate of Harlem, is suddenly seized with high social aspirations and decides to carry out his ideas, to the great dismay of Lizzy Potts, the cook, who loves Jack.

Initially, Hughie finds his new cook Jane unsatisfactory, until he tries several others.

A young man's girlfriend is forbidden by her father to see him again. When the father takes his family on a hunting trip to the woods, the girl and her suitor hatch a plan where he dresses up in a bear suit to "menace" the family, then leaves and reappears as himself to "save" them. However, things don't go quite to plan.

At the reading of her uncle's will, Honoria Spavin, a spinster lady, learns that his entire fortune is to be left to her on condition that she marry her cousin, Benvenuto Torrini, a young man who is not an Italian, but an American, living in America. If she refuses to marry Ben, all the fortune goes to him, but if he refuses to marry her, she is to get the money. Ben happens to be already engaged to Ella Cunningham, and when he receives a copy of the will he shows it to Ella who thinks up a plan.

Returning home from a matinee, Ralph Brent, a poor actor, finds his step-child dead. The child's mother returns intoxicated, having purchased drink instead of medicine for the child, with the money he had given her. He accuses her of causing the little one's death, and snatching the bottle of liquor from which she is about to drink, throws it away. Infuriated, she springs at her husband with a bread knife, stumbles and accidentally kills herself. Fearing that he will be suspected of murder. Brent hastily makes up in the disguise of an old man and leaves the house.

Just out of college, in love with Letty Grey, whose father is quick-tempered and opposed to him, also possessing a wealthy rival, Bertie feels he doesn't stand much show until he tells his troubles to Belle Chester, his cousin. Her sympathy and encouragement brace him up wonderfully. Meanwhile, Letty's father has bullied her into submitting to an engagement with the rival, Clarence Merkle, who is a susceptible gentleman of some 40 summers. Bertie learns of this, and in despair, again consults Belle. She tells him she will reconnoiter the enemy. She visits Letty, is introduced to Merkle, and learns he simply cannot resist a woman's wiles. She then secures a classy walking rig, tells Bertie to put it on, assists him to fix up as a fair young damsel, and gets him introduced at Grey's house as her friend from the West.