Washington industrialist Calvin Claymore leads a group that
supports a Senate bill to send aide to war-torn Europe, but is
opposed by isolationist Hal Thorne, whose Daily
Tabloidnewspaper and radio broadcast lobbies against the
group. Because his wife and daughter Laurie, who is engaged to
Hal, have been vacationing in South America for some time, the
lonely Calvin agrees to accompany his friend, Senator Morton, to
the Marigold Club.
Calvin is too preoccupied to enjoy himself,
even when he "hooks" entertainer Mary Morgan (Anne
Gwynne) during a water ballet
"fishing" act, but because Mary has been told by emcee Whitney
King to get friendly with Calvin, she convinces him to take her
home. She is impressed by his kind and gentlemanly demeanor, and
when he asks to see her again, she agrees. For the next few weeks
he escorts her to the sights of Washington, and the two develop
such a close friendship that when Mrs. Calvin cables that she is
returning, he is disappointed.
Calvin then goes to Mary's
apartment to say goodbye and tell her how much her companionship
has meant to him. After he leaves, she finds an envelope
containing a note and a large amount of cash. While she is writing
a letter to return the money, King, who has been waiting outside,
arrives and demands the money, but she tells him she sent it back.
In a scuffle, King strikes her, causing her to die when she falls
and hits her head. He then steals the money and note and leaves.
After Mary's murder is discovered, Logan, one of Hal's columnists,
learns that an older man spent time with Mary, and Hal determines
to find him. He then tells reporter Ronnie Colton to rent Mary's
apartment and investigate. On the night that Mrs. Claymore and
Laurie return, the butler tells Calvin that one of his gloves is
missing, and concerned that it may be in Mary's apartment, Calvin
burns the mate in the fireplace. As Laurie enters his study she
smells the burning glove, but is too concerned with asking for her
father's blessing on her marriage to Hal to notice.
He reluctantly
agrees, but when Hal shows him the evening edition of the Tab picturing
Calvin and himself shaking hands, and already announcing the
engagement, Calvin is angry because he fears his friends might
think that he has changed his views. The next day, King goes to
Calvin with a copy of the letter. He then coerces Calvin into
co-signing a note for him to buy the Marigold by suggesting that
the letter might cause his war relief bill to fail. Soon Ronnie
reports to Hal that he found a man's glove in Mary's apartment.
When Laurie, who is in Hal's office, hears that the glove was made
in Rio de Janiero, she remembers her father's burning glove. She
does not tell Hal, but instead goes home and talks to her father,
who tells her everything. She is sure that Hal will kill the story
for her, but it is too late. While Laurie develops a plan, Calvin
goes to Hal with the truth. Although confident that he can be
cleared of murder, they both know that the scandal would kill the
bill. Calvin thinks that King killed Mary, but says he agreed to
co-sign the loan to keep things quiet until after the bill passes.
Meanwhile, because Hal can not leave his office, he tells Ronnie
to escort Laurie to dinner, unaware that she wants to go to the
Marigold. There she has him join in a ruse. Pretending that she is
a French refugee, she flirts with King and is invited to his
apartment, thus angering Teddy Carlyle, King's jealous girl
friend. When Hal finds out from Ronnie what Laurie is up to, he
rushes to the club, but she has already gone. After giving Laurie
the key to his apartment and telling her that he will meet her,
King inadvertently discovers her real identity.
Hal then arrives
at the club and gets Ronnie to find out where King is. Just as
Laurie discovers the money and letter behind a painting, King
arrives and starts to struggle with her. When Teddy arrives, she
mistakes the struggle for lovemaking and decides to turn King in.
As she dials District Attorney Donnelly's office, King shoots her,
after which Hal and Ronnie arrive and knock him out. Later, Teddy
regains consciousness and reveals what she knows about King just
before she dies. With the scandal now averted, Calvin's bill
passes, Mrs. Claymore decides that she will spend more time with
her husband and Hal and Laurie make wedding plans.
