A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire.

Although Lily Powers, the beautiful young daughter of Nick Powers, a steel town speakeasy owner, struggles to protect herself from men, her father forces them on her. Finally Lily rebels and, on the advice of her friend, the local cobbler, decides to use men to get ahead. She leaves the steel town and takes her maid Chico with her to the city, where she takes a job in a bank. There she seduces men like Jimmy McCoy, his boss Brody, and eventually Ned Stevens, Brody's supervisor. Stevens sets Lily up in an apartment, although he is engaged to Ann Carter, the daughter of one of the bank's executives. Then Ann's father discovers Lily's charm and provides her with an even more elegant apartment. In a jealous rage, Stevens kills Carter, then himself, creating a scandal at the bank. Lily claims she is a victim of circumstance, convincing the bank to pay her enough money to go to Paris and make a fresh start. A well-respected socialite named Courtland Trenholm is subsequently appointed president, and after he is transferred to Paris, he too falls in love with Lily and marries her. Trenholm signs over his fortune to Lily, and when the bank is faced with bankruptcy, Lily refuses to help him. Convinced he is ruined, Trenholm decides to shoot himself, but Lily arrives in time to save his life and promise her devotion to him. After she uses her jewels to pay back the money he owes, Lily and Trenholm move to the steel town to start over together.