A single father struggling to make his comeback as a screenwriter falls in love with one of his students. Meanwhile his son, studying to become a chef, falls in love with his teacher. Love is great for creativity, but it comes with a price.

After a party, David Hargrove gives a ride home to his colleagues Emily Brandt and Corey Thompson. Corey decides to have dinner and they go to an isolated ATM. Soon they are threatened by an unknown man and they become trapped in the ATM trying to survive.

Morning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city's upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor... The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.

Charles Murdock neglects his fat and lazy wife in favor of Juliet Raeburn but, when Juliet's name is involved in murder, he marries Viola and takes her to Paris.

Cartoonist Winsor McCay agrees to create a large set of drawings that will be photographed and made into a motion picture. The job requires plenty of drawing supplies, and the cartoonist must also overcome some mishaps caused by an assistant. Finally, the work is done, and everyone can see the resulting animated picture.