Popular football star "Lightning" Bill Graham marries Ann Carver after both graduate from Hampden University. Although Ann receives her law degree and passes the bar exam, she decides to keep house for Bill, who is employed as a draftsman. Although Bill is ambitious to prove himself beyond his football talent, attractive looks and good singing voice, it is actually Ann who becomes successful. After proving herself to former Judge Bingham and his son by handling an important case, she is hired by them and wins an acquittal for a client's wealthy playboy son in a breach of promise lawsuit filed against him. Other spectacular legal victories follow, and Ann becomes the darling of the media, while Bill's career stagnates. As Ann's job makes enormous demands on her time, she and Bill spend less time together. Ashamed that his wife's income provides most of the family money, Bill quits his job to earn more crooning at the Club Mirador, a nightclub where their college friend, Jim Thompson, is a band leader. When Ann mistakenly believes that her husband is romantically inclined toward the club's sexy, alcoholic singer, Carole Rogers, Ann publicly embarrasses him. Unable to cope with the idea that he cannot support his wife, Bill leaves and moves into his own apartment, where Carole, having lost her job due to her alcoholism, continues to make a play for him. Disgusted with her alcoholic condition, Bill leaves for the club. Her drunkenness causes her to fall, and her necklace catches on a sofa, choking her to death. Bill finally makes the headlines as the district attorney's office accuses him of murder. Judge Bingham convinces Bill to let Ann plead his case. She eloquently tells the jury that Bill's troubles are her fault and that he left her when she did not return the love he had given her so willingly. Announcing before the court that this will be her last case, she begs the jury not to convict Bill and claims that reasonable doubt exists in this case. After Bill is acquitted, he and Ann reconcile. As Ann cheerfully helps her husband pursue his career, Bill becomes successful as an architect when his plans are published in House and Garden and Vanity Fair .