Efficient, hardworking secretary Mary Linden all but runs Ritter & Company, a paper wholesaling business whose aging president is on the verge of retirement. Eager to help young salesman Jim Duneen, who had given her encouragement when she first struggled with her own job, Mary gives him confidential selling tips and recommends him to Ritter as the best candidate for the company's presidency. Although Jim takes advantage of Mary's unselfish aid, he fails to notice that she loves him deeply and calls her "girlie" in the office. Even after he is named president of the company, he sees Mary only as his personal secretary and casually hires his current "easy" girl friend, the slow-witted Daisy Presby, to work under her. In spite of these snubs, Mary remains faithful to Jim, rejecting the overtures of millionaire Ronnie Wales, a sweet but married man who adores her but refuses to divorce his estranged rich wife. When Mary learns of Jim's engagement to Ellen Robinson, a banker's daughter, however, her resolve crumbles. Ellen, aware of Mary's feelings for Jim, then forces Mary to quit the company, and a heartbroken Mary finally agrees to accompany Ronnie on a weekend trip to Atlantic City. On her way to Ronnie's hotel room, however, she realizes that if she gives in to Ronnie, she will be no better than the "cheap" women who hounded Jim. In the meantime, Jim realizes that he is unable to run the company without Mary and asks Dolores Kogan, her friend, the company switchboard operator, to find her. After Dolores "overhears" Jim and Ellen arguing bitterly over Daisy, she tells Mary that the engagement is off. Mary, posing as a secretary under an assumed name, rushes to see Jim, who gratefully rehires her and then proposes.