Barry Kelley

Police detective Roy Hargis falls for night club singer Ilona Vance, but his partner Sgt. Lackey is convinced she fatally shot mob lawyer Frank Hobart. Hargis has his doubts, until he learns that Ilona once owned the murder weapon. After gangland lawyer Frank Hobart is murdered there are two suspects - Ilona Vance , beautiful nightclub singer, and a hood named Stan, who had been hired by underworld boss Chad Bayliss to kill Hobart. Attracted to Ilona, Lt. Detective Roy Hargis tries to protect her in spite of the growing evidence against her and the pressure put on him by his assistant, Sergeant Lackey. Hargis thinks the case has broken when a dance hall girl, Sandra Lamoreaux, who saw Stan at the scene of the murder, tries to use this information to blackmail him, and is badly beaten. She manages to talk to Hargis, and her story brings about Stan's capture and conviction for murder. But he didn't do it. It is now up to Hargis to either clear or convict Ilona. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

A young girl from a provincial town learns the bitter reality of a big city and great love. It's the turn of the century. From small town Missouri, Carrie Meeber has just moved to Chicago expecting to take the city by storm, or at least to do better than her sister Minnie has done before her in Carrie being better educated. She finds that she isn't as wise to the ways of the city largely in having a provincial mentality. She ends up needing the help of others to survive, if not Minnie and her husband Sven, then others showing her any kindness. In having a falling out with her sister and brother-in-law, Carrie somewhat reluctantly accepts the assistance and friendship of traveling salesman Charlie Drouet, who expects to capitalize on Carrie's naivete to get what he wants from her. It isn't until she has committed to Drouet in her need to be respectable that she falls mutually in love with George Hurstwood, the manager of Fitzgerald's, one of the most upscale restaurant/bars in the city. What George does not tell her is that he is already married with grown children, albeit the marriage a cold one to Julia Hurstwood in her only concern being her/their standing in society. This situation is a potential disaster zone for all concerned.

Running from the Law, and with a badly injured arm, Lin Vanner (Lew Ayres) takes refuge in a priests' (Victor Jory) home and tells him how and why he has ended up in this condition. It turns out that Vanner was working as an oil man when the company payroll was stolen. After a posse heads out the wrong way in pursuit of a suspect Vanner reasons that the criminal may be heading in a different direction. He heads out after him, but not knowing his identity shoots who he believes is the crook, Sam Tevlin (Edwin Rand) who claims he did not steal the money. When Tevlin is severely questioned by the company owner Mahoney (Barry Kelley), and dies Vanner is stricken with guilt, resigns and goes to a nearby town to take a job as a cattle rancher. When Vanner discovers that the ranch owner he is working for is Ellen Tevlin (Teresa Wright), the widow of the man he shot and killed, his first impulse is to run, but Vanner is compelled by his curiosity as to why Sam may have committed the crime. Ellen's good nature changes to cruelty when she discovers that Vanner was the man who killed her husband. When Vanner confesses his uncertainty about Sam's guilt, Ellen confesses that they were an estranged couple and this allows the two to fall in love. Vanner is compelled to discover the truth about Sam's involvement in the company robbery and after investigation discovers the real criminal and accidentally kills him attempting to bring him to justice and causing the police to pursue him to the priest's home.