AllMovie

It was impossible for director Sam Wood to include all of Arthur Train's sprawling novel in this picture. Instead he seems to have turned it into a rather simplistic morality play about a flapper's redemption -- the sort of subject which was common in the 1920s. Old Peter B. Kayne (George Fawcett) has finally handed over the last of his fortune to his 55-year-old son, Rufus (Hale Hamilton). Although Rufus has entered society and is the respectable president of a trust company, he has a foolish side. While his three daughters -- Diana (Bebe Daniels), Claudia (Katheryn Lean, and Sheila (Dorothy Mackaill) -- carry on their frivolous lives, Rufus becomes involved with a young chorus girl, Mercedes (Mary Eaton). He gets involved in a theatrical venture which fails miserably, ruining the family's fortune. But Diana has finally seen the error of her ways and rescues her younger sister, Sheila, from making the same mistakes. She also marries Lloyd Maitland, a young lawyer (James Rennie). Rufus has a nervous breakdown and all of the Kayne's possessions are put up for auction. While coming down the stairs, he falls, taking down a tapestry with him. It reveals the saying, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it" (it was common in the 1920s for books and motion pictures to make Biblical references to prove their points).