The Wet Parade

In 1916, Maggie May Chilcote cares for her heavy-drinking father Roger and helps him through his withdrawal. Roger's drinking and gambling spree drains the family money, and in the agony of withdrawal he takes his own life. After the funeral, Maggie vows to fight the scourge of alcohol abuse.

Roger Jr., a writer, relocates to New York City after his novel is accepted. His college friend Jerry Tyler rents a room in a modest hotel run by Pow Tarleton and his wife Bertha, with Kip helping manage it. The hotel becomes a crossroads of Prohibition-era temptations.

Jerry enlists to fight in World War I. After the war ends, the 18th Amendment becomes law in 1919 despite Wilson's veto, setting the stage for nationwide prohibition.

Maggie May comes to the hotel to meet her brother and is escorted to Roger's room by Pow Tarleton, who assumes she is a prostitute. Kip rushes upstairs to remove her, shocked to learn the truth. Roger discovers Pow has replaced his liquor with water, a cruel ploy highlighting early Prohibition-era hypocrisy.

Maggie May realizes she and Kip share the same battle against temptation, and the two grow closer. They visit relatives on Long Island, hoping to stay far from temptation. The trip cements their relationship amid the era's pressures.

On June 29, 1919, many hoard liquor and drink as much as possible before midnight. At a lavish party thrown by the Chilcotes' cousins, their bar is stocked by a boat from Bermuda, and Roger is smitten with actress Eileen Pinchon. The night marks a turning point in personal and public temptations surrounding Prohibition.

Bertha tries to wrest a bottle away from Pow; when it breaks, he beats her to death. Maggie May comforts the devastated Kip. Pow is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. This tragedy underscores the violence that prohibition exacerbates.

Kip does not renew the hotel lease; Maggie comforts him and they confess their love. They marry, and Kip joins the U.S. Department of the Treasury to enforce Prohibition from a federal angle. Personal and political futures become entwined.

Kip's boss, the Major, does not fully believe in Prohibition but will enforce it with limited resources. He pairs Kip with Abe Schilling, a seasoned agent. In a bar, they watch teenagers drink; their cover is blown, they are beaten and ejected, and a crook warns that bootleggers are forming an association.

Maggie tells Kip that she is pregnant, which tightens the personal stakes in their ongoing war against bootleggers and corrupt officials. Across the country, gangsters organize with bribery and terror, backed by business interests seeking palpable profits from the illicit liquor trade.

Abe announces a raid on Eileen's glamorous speakeasy, and the cops smash the club. Roger, now a major investor in the club, is shaken and later falls sick and goes blind from what doctors say is methyl alcohol poisoning in bootleg liquor. He moves in with Kip and Maggie and learns braille.

Kip promises justice for Roger as the Major signs a warrant, yet openly acknowledges that the effort feels futile given limited resources. With Maggie about to give birth, the stakes rise and the fight intensifies rather than diminishing.

Gangsters kidnap Kip from the hospital where his wife is about to give birth. Abe Schilling rescues him but is shot and dies in Kip's arms, urging him to quit the Treasury and protect his family. Kip looks at his tiny son, born into an awful mess, and wonders how much longer the chaos will continue.

The summary notes that Mahatma Gandhi read the book while in Erawada jail, linking the Prohibition-era struggle to broader anti-colonial resistance and moral reform. The reference situates the film's themes within a wider historical conscience.