No Time for Love

Mirror magazine photographer Katherine Grant is assigned to document the Interborough Vehicular River Tunnel project in New York City. Wearing a hardhat and boots, she is taken underground to the construction site where the sandhogs resent her presence because they believe women bring bad luck. Her arrival sets up the conflict between the female observer and the male-dominated tunnel world.

While trying to get a better angle near the drilling point, she distracts the workers and triggers an accident that nearly kills Jim Ryan. Ryan is unconscious and about to be crushed by a machine before Katherine drags him to safety. This dramatic rescue seeds both professional danger and a complicated attraction.

In the compression chamber, Ryan gets into a fistfight with coworkers who taunt him about being saved by a woman. Katherine uses the moment to photograph Ryan in action, capturing a raw display of grit and bravado. The images will become part of the social tensions surrounding the project.

Back at her apartment, Katherine shows the photos to her sister Hoppy and a circle of snobbish friends including Henry Fulton, Dunbar, and Roger Winant. They mock the ‘ape’ image of the fighting sandhogs, and Ryan arrives to reclaim a tripod and demands to see the 'chaiah' that has more integrity than he does. Unimpressed, Ryan kisses Katherine and walks away, restoring his confidence.

Over the following weeks, Katherine is haunted by pleasant dreams of Ryan as a superhero rescuing her. Meanwhile Ryan loses his job after Henry publishes the photograph of the sandhogs fighting. Seeing him in need, Katherine tells him she didn't know the photo would be published and offers him a job as her assistant.

Katherine hires Ryan as her assistant, offsetting his lost wages. They begin to accompany each other on assignments, and their professional collaboration deepens. Despite his flirtations with other women, a genuine attraction starts to blossom.

As they work together, Katherine falls in love with Ryan and he returns her feelings. They share a passionate kiss, but Hoppy spots them and reveals Katherine's original plan to push him away. This revelation complicates their relationship and tests their trust.

Sometime later, the tunnel project is threatened by repeated cave-ins from the river muck. Ryan, now an engineer working as a sandhog, invents a new machine and a chemical process to stabilize the muck. Katherine is assigned to cover the test and witness the potential breakthrough.

During the testing, the machine seems to fail at first as muck breaches the wall. Katherine takes photographs as the muck begins to solidify, and a muck-slide nearly buries her. Ryan and the other sandhogs abandon the machine to save her.

After the test, officials declare the effort a failure, threatening to derail Ryan's project. Katherine retrieves the camera and convinces Roger and a sandhog to help her return to the tunnel to gather proof. The photos prove that the muck stopped where the breach occurred, convincing officials to move forward under Ryan's leadership, though Ryan never learns Katherine was responsible.

Back in the surface world, Roger visits Ryan to reveal Katherine's plan to marry Henry. Darlene overhears and warns Katherine to stay away from Ryan. The engagement party looms, pushing the triangle toward a crisis.

At the engagement gathering, Darlene confronts Katherine and is slapped. Ryan arrives and confronts Henry with the 'chair' and asks Katherine to choose. Katherine chooses Ryan, who carries her away to begin their life together.