When ex-convict Jenny Marsh visits her Los Angeles parole officer, Griff Marat, he lists the conditions of her parole: she must report to him every day and she must not carry a weapon or get married. He also warns her to stay away from Harry Wesson, who was partially responsible for her involvement in crime. Griff helps Jenny find a place to live and a job, but Jenny resumes her relationship with Harry, despite Griff's warning. Later, Jenny is picked up during a raid on the bookie joint where Harry took her. Despite her violation, Griff believes that Jenny will successfully straighten out her life, an opinion that is reinforced by the psychologist who examines her. Even though Jenny realizes that Harry is a bad influence, she makes a date with him, but when she leaves her room to go meet him, she finds Griff waiting for her. He offers to take her to dinner, and she is forced to accept. Griff also picks up his younger brother Tommy, Tommy's friend Barry and Fred Bauer, another parolee, and brings the whole group to his house, where he lives with Tommy and their blind mother. At first, Jenny is angry and tells Griff that Harry is the only man who was ever kind to her. She admits that she would do anything for him, including murder. Because she lost her job after the raid, Griff offers her a position caring for his mother during the day in return for room and board. Jenny meets secretly with Harry, begging him to help her leave town because she believes that Griff is falling in love with her, but Harry suggests that she encourage Griff's infatuation. One night, when they are alone, Griff tells Jenny that his office received a request for her transfer to San Francisco. She turns down the opportunity to leave, and because he knows that Harry arranged the transfer, Griff is pleased. Later that night, Griff asks Jenny to marry him. Although she refuses, Harry encourages her to go through with the marriage because by thus breaking her parole, she would quash Griff's political ambitions. Determined to spare Griff, Jenny runs away, but Griff goes after her and insists that they get married secretly. After the marriage, Jenny breaks off her connection with Harry, causing him to come to Griff's house to speak to her. Griff encounters him there, and the two men quarrel. Later Harry telephones Griff, saying that he has information about his wife. Griff finds a severely wounded Harry, along with a note from Jenny begging Harry to take her away. Convinced that Jenny shot Harry, he coldly decides to turn her in, but his mother is sure that Jenny shot Harry out of love for Griff. Griff then resolves to escape to Mexico with Jenny. They are recognized before they can cross the border, but manage to escape to another state on a bus. There, Jenny dyes her hair, and Griff gets a job working at an oil refinery. Eventually a photograph of the couple appears in the newspapers and, tired of running, Jenny insists that they give themselves up. Harry is still in the hospital, but he tells the police that the shooting was an accident, assuring Griff and Jenny that they can now live an honest life together.