Hard-boiled underworld melodrama, with gang wars and gunfights, in which criminal lawyer turns prosecutor to avenge a friend's death.

With the outbreak of a gang war between Gunner Gallagher and Lefty Schroeder, feared underworld lawyer John Phelan negotiates a temporary truce, while district attorney Franklin Ames investigates. Both men are in love with Nada Winthrop, daughter of a powerful capitalist, and while she loves John, she also disapproves of his association with criminals. When John frees mobster Gunner Gallagher on bail, she announces her engagement to Franklin. However, the district attorney is murdered after learning that the elder Winthrop heads the city's crime syndicate. John succeeds his friend as district attorney and also discovers Winthrop's secret. Realizing that he is compromised by his romance with Nada, John resigns his post. He then threatens to expose Winthrop, prompting the crime boss to commit suicide. After gangster moll Snuggles Joy is rejected by Gunner, she seeks retribution by revealing his involvement in Franklyn's murder. John and Nada are reconciled.