At a diner, young auto mechanic Dan Brady has just finished telling his co-worker Chuck that he has broken up with his adoring girl friend, Helen Calder, when he notices the stunning blonde cashier, Vera Novak. Dan convinces Vera to go out with him that evening, but when he returns to his job at the garage, he remembers that he has no money. While making change at the register, Dan realizes that the bookkeeper will not be in to check the cash drawer for a few days and decides to borrow twenty dollars, intending to pay it back the next day when he collects the money that his friend, Buzz Larson, owes him. That night, he and Vera go to the Santa Monica pier, and she tells him she used to work in the arcade managed by the shady Nick. The next day, Dan is unable to reach Buzz, and when the bookkeeper arrives two days ahead of schedule, Dan buys an expensive watch on credit and pawns it, racing back to the garage just in time to replace the money. The next day, an investigator named Moriarity comes to the garage and tells Dan that if he does not repay the jewelry store within twenty-four hours, he will be arrested for grand larceny. That night, after a fruitless search for money, Dan goes to a bar on the pier, where he notices that the drunken Shorty McCabe, who runs the bingo parlor, has a wallet full of cash. Dan follows Shorty to the parking lot and robs him, but is seen by a witness whose screams bring the police. Dan goes to the arcade to meet Vera, and when he finds Nick manhandling her, he knocks him down, accidentally leaving behind the handkerchief he used to cover his face during the robbery. The next day, Nick calls Dan and says he knows about the robbery, and demands a new car in exchange for the handkerchief. Desperate, Dan steals a car from the garage, and later, his mean-spirited boss Mackey tells Dan that he was seen taking the car, and threatens to go to the police unless Dan pays him a marked-up price for it. Dan confides his problems to Vera, and she suggests that they steal the money from Nick's office. The robbery nets enough cash to pay off Mackey, but Vera spends half of it on a mink coat. With the remaining money, Dan meets his boss at the deserted garage, but after Mackay takes the cash, he pulls a gun on Dan and starts to call the police. The men struggle, and Dan strangles Mackey. Later, on the street, Dan encounters Helen and Chuck, who tells him that he quit his job after Mackey tried to extort money from him for the stolen car. Dan goes to Vera, but the police soon arrive, acting on a tip from Nick, and he hides on the fire escape as they arrest her. Dan climbs down the fire escape and finds Helen waiting for him by his car. After Helen declares her love for him, Dan tells her everything, and they decide to run away to Mexico. The car breaks down, however, and Dan uses the gun he took from Mackey to kidnap Harvey, a passing motorist, and force him to be their driver. When Harvey, who is a lawyer, tells them that Helen is not yet guilty of any crime, Dan orders Harvey to take him to the pier, where he will seek out Buzz. As Harvey and Helen drive away, they hear a radio news report announcing that Mackey is alive, and head back to the pier just as the police wound and capture Dan. The kindly Harvey offers reassurances about Dan's probable sentence, and Helen promises to wait for him.