Dan Quigley is fired from his job as a theater usher, accused of gambling and other troubles, and the story follows his sharp turn from troublemaker to unlikely schemer. He tracks down Myra Gale at her apartment to return the purse she dropped, and then slips into a poker game with her supposed “brother-in-law,” Spade Maddock, Duke, Smiley, and Pete. After losing all his money, he’s about to walk away when another person tries to return the purse, and Dan realizes he’s been duped. Rather than call the police, he threatens to expose the con artist unless they let him join their circle, claiming he has profitable ideas to share.
From that moment, Dan proves his word by becoming part of a crew that runs a nightclub and casino as a front for burglaries. The crew’s schemes take on a life of their own as Dan stages a fake car accident so a mysterious “doctor” can insinuate himself into the home of Mrs. Marley, giving them a chance to inspect a mansion for future break-ins. The burglaries escalate, but trouble intensifies when a butler is killed during one raid. The tension peaks as Spade Maddock cracks under police interrogation and betrays the others; Duke kills Pete, and the rest of the gang flees, forcing Dan and Myra to head for Los Angeles.
In the City of Angels, Dan is picked up for questioning at the train station. He entrusts his money to Myra Gale for safekeeping, and she runs into Spade Maddock again. When Dan phones to arrange bail, Spade Maddock persuades Myra to accompany him to Mexico, but Dan is released for lack of evidence anyway. Broke and pursued by a suspicious police presence, he mistakes a real officer for trouble and runs, only to discover the pursuer is actually a film extra recruiter. He gladly signs on for $3 a day, and on his fourth day of work he meets the star, Lois Underwood, who treats him with surprising warmth despite his lowly status as an extra.
Behind the scenes, studio head Ramick is hungry for fresh, “rough and ready” faces, sensing that audiences tire of conventional, polished stars. An executive hints that Dan might be the right fit, and before long the aspiring actor helps his career by churning out hundreds of fan letters a week, earning him a rapid rise in recognition.
As Dan’s star climbs, he and Lois Underwood begin dating. He even confronts a harsh critic who had panned Lois, forcing the critic to swallow his own words—literally swallowing the newspaper column as a stark display of loyalty and defiance, a moment that cements his burgeoning fame. Dan then invites Lois into his new life, taking her home to reveal a lavish suite—but their moment is interrupted when Myra Gale appears in his bedroom, prompting Lois to leave in disappointment.
Dan ejects Myra from his life, but the old gang isn’t done with him. Spade and the crew want Dan’s connections to help them slip inside the homes of stars for their robberies, and Dan refuses. He offers them all he has—$10,000—to vanish and never come back. Spade accepts the money with no intention of leaving town. Soon enough, burglaries resume, echoing the old method of Dan’s former gang, and the police suspect Dan of masterminding the crimes.
The trail leads to Lois’s jewels, which Dan retrieves at gunpoint, but just as he’s leaving, the police swarm in. He’s arrested while the others make their escape. Despite objections from studio bigwigs, Lois resolves to post Dan’s bail and stand by him. Yet Spade fears Dan will reveal everything, so he and Myra plot to bail him out only to kill him. Myra warns Dan, but he already suspects the plan, and the authorities tailed them both. A tense car chase and a gunfight ensue, leaving the thieves either dead or in custody, and Dan is ultimately exonerated. He even asks the police to ensure leniency for Myra. In the end, Dan and Lois leave to marry in a different state, starting a new chapter together, amid the reconciled tensions of a world where fame, loyalty, and crime intersect.
