Reporter Torchy Blane repeatedly accuses Mayor Saunders of being in league with Dr. Dolan, who controls the city through graft. The articles worry policeman Steve McBride, Torchy's fiancé, because he believes that they place her in danger. By asking his allies to withdraw advertising from the newspaper, Dolan pressures Torchy's editor into cancelling her articles. Determined to prove that her articles are correct, Torchy searches Dolan's office and steals a small red book in which Dolan records his transactions. Dolan calls the police after the robbery, demanding the return of the book but also requesting that the theft receive no publicity. When Torchy writes an article exposing Dolan, the publisher of her newspaper refuses to print it. She takes her piece to other papers with no luck until she encounters Hogarth Ward, the publisher of a small, relatively unknown newspaper. With the help of Gahagan, Steve's partner, they distribute the publication all over town. Now that Torchy has revealed the mayor's corruption, the citizens choose Ward to run as a reform candidate. Before the election, however, Dolan kills Ward with an injection, using a letter he found in Ward's papers to place the blame for the murder on an innocent man. Because he is annoyed at her interference, Steve writes in Torchy's name as the new reform candidate. To his dismay, she decides to campaign seriously. From the podium, Torchy promises to name Ward's murderer, but before she can, she is kidnapped. Steve and Gahagan set off to find her. Steve threatens Dolan to no avail, but in the meantime, Steve has found an address that he believes to be the gang's hideout. They find Torchy and Dolan waiting there. Dolan and Steve fight and Dolan escapes in Steve's car, which Dolan's men have rigged to explode when the siren is used. Dolan is killed by the bomb. Torchy wins the election, but at the sight of a baby, decides to marry Steve instead of assuming the mayorship.