A junk dealer does business with the Dead End Kids: Frankie, Squirt, Spike, Goofy, Fats, and Bugs.

The kids are arrested and brought trial, where the judge sentences all of them to reform school after they refuse to confirm which one struck the blow.

The superintendent of the state reformatories, Mark Braden, visits the school and finds evidence of Morgan's subtle cruelty, as in feeding his new inmates poor-quality food.

Braden takes charge of the reformatory himself and wins over the boys' cooperation by considerate treatment, while romancing Frankie's sister, Sue Warren.

However, Braden drives the boys back to the reformatory and gets them into their beds, before the Commissioner, alerted by Morgan, arrives for an inspection with the police in tow.