In New York City, a gangster known as "The Dutchman" steals $50,000 from his partners, Dane Cory and Martin Martin. After The Dutchman boards a ferryboat in an attempt to escape, Cory and Martin shoot him and dump his body overboard. Some years later, at his Park Avenue penthouse, Martin receives a visit from his lawyer, whom he affectionately calls "Lawbooks." When Lawbooks tells Martin that some men from the district attorney's office are on their way to arrest him, he quickly escapes. Later, Lawbooks tells Martin that after the police finally recovered The Dutchman's body, they persuaded Cory, who is now a local show promoter, to implicate Martin in his murder. Martin goes to Cory's theater, and without giving his name, asks to speak with Cory. When Cory appears at the door, Martin shoots at him, hitting his henchman, Freddy, instead. Freddy returns fire, and after he is hit in the shoulder, Martin staggers out onto Broadway. As he passes a newsstand, Martin reads about the reward that has been offered for his capture. Later, Martin finds the address of Cory's girl friend, singer Lily White, who is also known as "Beautiful Mama," and decides to hide inside the condemned building across the street from her apartment. Inside her apartment, Beautiful Mama watches as Cory beats her daughter Elsie's dog, Skipper, bloodying his eye. Desperate to escape his tormentor, Skipper runs into the condemned building. When Martin sees Skipper, he decides to call him "Johnny One-Eye" because of his wound. Soon, Elsie enters the building looking for Skipper and finds Martin crouched in the corner. He tells Elsie that he is Santa Claus and makes her promise not to tell anyone that she has seen him. Meanwhile, Cory offers Martin's assistant, Ambrose, $10,000 in exchange for information about his boss's whereabouts. When Martin decides to leave the building later, he is followed by Skipper. Putting aside his own suffering, Martin takes Skipper to a pet shop. There, the attendant dresses Skipper's eye and then notices that Martin has been shot. Promising not to alert the authorities, the attendant removes the bullet, for which Martin is grateful. Soon, however, Martin develops gangrene and begins hallucinating. When he thinks that he is seeing Freddy's ghost, Martin returns to the condemned building, where Elsie tells him that Cory has been invited to dinner. Martin writes a note for Elsie to give to the police and then instructs her to return home. As soon as she walks into the apartment, Cory discovers the note, grabs his gun and rushes into the street looking for Martin. Realizing that she has placed him in danger, Elsie rushes to warn Martin, but her foot becomes stuck in the decaying floor of the building. Cory sees her enter the building, and when he finds Martin, the two shoot each other. The police arrive, and before Martin dies, they assure him that Elsie will receive the reward for finding him.