The screenplay was written by Rian James, Gordon Douglas, Jack Jevne and Claude Martin, based on a novel by Donald Henderson Clarke.

Hilda is fed up with her life as a gun moll to gangster Floyd and visits her mother, housekeeper for the cultured Randall family.

Professor Randall and his wife go on vacation, leaving behind sheltered son Robert to embark upon a career as a reporter at Hilda's urging.

Soon after, Benny, a feeble-minded flower vendor, follows showgirl Gladys Fontaine when Floyd forces her to join him on his houseboat to take Hilda's place.

The next morning, Robert reads about Gladys' death and attaches himself to hard-drinking, womanizing ace crime reporter Deakon Maxwell and his photographer, Ed O'Malley.

After a night of drinking with Deakon and Ed at his expense, and learning from Benny that Gladys was thrown from the houseboat, the drunken Robert calls his editor and reports the details.

Waking up the next morning with no memory of the evening's events, Robert finds that his story has scooped the other newspapers and that he is being hailed as a true newspaperman.

Roach and United Artists launched a new campaign which played up the more salacious aspects of the story, such as using ad lines like "the housekeeper's daughter did things she hadn't oughter."