Professor Aristide [Basil Rathbone] runs a Paris school that trains pickpockets by testing honesty and nerve, shaping a clandestine world where deception is a skill and danger a constant companion. Among his pupils are Yves Cadubert [Mikhail Rasumny] and the runaway Arlette Lafron [Ginger Rogers], a girl who, though she steals only an apple on her first test, catches Aristide’s eye with a sharper quickness than his usual charges. This is the kind of wit he wants, and Arlette becomes a hopeful thorn in the side of the reform system he quietly controls.
Arlette becomes determined to escape the reform school forever by manipulating a plan that hinges on a sham marriage. Her first bold move lands her in trouble when a well-dressed man discovers her theft; he is the Ambassador [Adolphe Menjou], a powerful figure who looms large over the city’s diplomatic circles. Into this volatile mix enters Baron Ferdinand Dvorak [Eduardo Ciannelli], who arrives with his own interests and a scheme to bring Arlette to a grand reception posing as his niece.
At the reception, Arlette is given a dangerous assignment: steal the pocket watch of Pierre de Roche [Jean-Pierre Aumont]. The twist comes when she removes a picture of the ambassador’s wife from inside the watch, creating a tense balance of trust and risk. The ambassador is relieved to find no indiscretion in the watch and, as a test of loyalty, has Arlette slip it back into Pierre’s pocket. Pierre, impressed and moved, insists on driving Arlette home and even plucks flowers from his garden to bring to her.
Back at Aristide’s school, suspicion swirls around Arlette, and the master thief’s questions force her out for freelancing rather than following the rules. Undeterred, she decides to tell Pierre the truth at the train station, only to learn that he’s already drawn to her—and he makes space for her to stay the night at his house.
The next morning, Pierre’s penniless friend Roland Latour [Melville Cooper] arrives to stay while Pierre heads to Geneva. To safeguard Arlette’s future, Pierre arranges a sham marriage between Arlette and Roland in exchange for 10,000 francs. In Geneva, jealousy and pride complicate the plan as Roland proves an uneasy partner, and Arlette and Yves—the latter acting as a butler—scramble to maintain appearances by buying clothes and keeping up the ruse. The ambassador’s wife [Mona Maris] glances at the situation and departs in a storm of suspicion, though Pierre’s response remains oddly lighthearted.
Pierre confesses his love for Arlette to Roland, who warns that society’s eyes could ruin Pierre’s career. Arlette herself wrestles with doubt, realizing that the people she’s chasing approval from may be as scheming as those she’s trying to outmaneuver. She returns to the embassy reception with renewed resolve, recognizing that the opinions of those around her are built on deceit, not honor. As the night unfolds, Pierre makes a final, bold move—he steps into the minister’s circle to declare his feelings for Arlette. The Minister [Henry Stephenson] weighs the moment and, in a clever turn, acknowledges that courting a clever heart could prove more valuable than protecting appearances.
In the end, the chessboard of deception gives way to a real connection. Pierre and Arlette move beyond pretense, their relationship solidified by genuine affection and a shared sense of adventure. A grand wedding follows, uniting two people who learned the hard way that truth, not theft, has the strongest claim on a life together.
