Bob McAvoy and Charles Jerome are the star trapeze artists of the circus owned by Jesse Roebling. Both Bob and Charlie are in love with Kay Rogers, who is training to join their act. Charlie is a philanderer, however, and is carrying on an affair with Carlotta the lion tamer while he woos Kay. Charlie and Kay are secretly married, and Bob is furious when he finds out. Angry over Charlie's treatment of Kay and Carlotta, Bob starts a fight with him and receives a bad cut over his eye. Later, the blood from the cut blinds Bob as he and Charlie perform, causing him to drop Charlie. The fall breaks Charlie's shoulder, and although he recovers, it is clear that he will never be able to perform again. Believing that Bob dropped him on purpose, Charlie plans his revenge. He pretends to forgive Bob, then teams him and Kay in a new act and becomes their manager. After Bob and Kay have been training together for a few weeks, Charlie realizes that Kay is in love with Bob, and his bitterness grows. Charlie decides to dispose of his rival during the new finale that he has convinced Bob and Kay to perform. In the finale, Bob is to swing, without a safety net, over the open top of a cage of lions. Just before the performance, Charlie tampers with Bob's rigging, and during the act the weakened rope breaks just as Bob is over the lions. While he hangs on one rope, Kay swings out on her trapeze to try to save him. When it appears that Kay is also going to fall, Charlie swings out on another trapeze. Just as Charlie is about to drop Bob deliberately, Gabby Clark, one of the barkers, throws Bob a line. Bob swings to safety, and Charlie falls to his death in his own trap. Free from Charlie's vengeful presence, Bob and Kay make plans to marry.