A newspaper reporter, Bruce Corey, returns from World War I to New York City.

Corey gambles with a mob boss and wins the money to start up his paper, the New York Mercury, an instant success.

However, because of stories that may implicate the newspaper's silent partner in a number of crimes, Corey finds himself and his staff threatened and even the targets of gunfire.

Corey finally kills the mob boss and flees the country on a plane that is attempting a trans-Atlantic flight.

Rather than embroil the paper in the murder investigation, Corey embarks on what he knows is an extremely dangerous flight.