Singer Danny Wilson and his partner, pianist Michael Francis Ryan, struggle to make a name for themselves but are thwarted by low-paying gigs and Danny's penchant for starting fights, which Mike has to finish. After being kicked out of yet another club for fighting, they meet Joy Carroll, a lovely singer, and agree to escort her to a bar so she can get drunk without being bothered by other men. A drunken Danny soon hits a policeman, and he and Mike land in jail. The next morning someone posts bail and leaves them a note to visit mobster Nick Driscoll at his nightclub. There, Nick is duly impressed by Danny's singing talent and offers them a job. Although Mike is concerned when Nick insists on fifty percent of all of Danny's future earnings, Danny convinces him that a bad deal is better than no deal at all, and they start work that night. When Joy stops by before the show, they realize that she is a singer at the club and has arranged both their bail and their job to thank them for helping her. Danny, who is quickly falling in love with Joy, refuses to believe Mike's warning that Nick also loves her. Nick, however, comprehends Danny's feelings immediately, and when the two singers go out after the show, Nick calls Joy's house obsessively until she returns. Over the next year, Danny's star rises, but even after he acquires a recording contract and a show on Broadway, Nick still unfailingly collects half of all of Danny's profits. One day, Mike, Danny and Joy learn that Nick is wanted for a gangland murder and has gone into hiding. Danny wants to use the opportunity to welsh on their deal, but Mike refuses to go back on his word to Nick. Danny, who has become spoiled by his sudden fame, picks a fight with street thugs, which Mike has to join. As Joy tends to Mike's wounds, she reveals that she loves him, not Danny. Although Mike admits he loves her too, he explains that he could never steal her away from his best friend, causing Joy to storm out. Weeks later, while Danny is acting in a Hollywood movie, Joy refuses to answer his phone calls. Seeing Danny grow more desperate, Mike calls Joy and convinces her to visit for his sake. That night, when she attends a party in Danny's honor, he announces to the crowd that they are engaged, without securing a response from her. She leaves over his objections but returns later that night to Mike's hotel room. She informs Mike that she cannot stay with them unless he returns her love, but just as he embraces her, Danny enters the room. He bitterly denounces them and spends the next days in drunken stupor, at one point appearing at a benefit show too intoxicated to sing. Days later, Mike signs the contract release that Danny's lawyer has drawn up for him and tells Danny that he has become a mean, small person. Just then, Nick arrives to collect his money, which Danny has already spent. When Danny attacks Nick, Mike jumps in front of him just as Nick pulls out a gun and shoots. Nick informs Danny that he must bring the money to the local baseball field that night, and runs out. At the hospital, while they wait fearfully to hear Mike's prognosis, Joy informs Danny that the whole romantic situation was her fault. Danny realizes he may lose the only friend he ever really had. He races to the ballpark and engages Nick in a gunfight, which ends when the police, who have followed Danny from the hospital, shoot Nick down. Months later, the newly married Mike and Joy accompany a delighted Danny to his appearance at the London Palladium.