A racketeer goes straight to run a reform school.

Racketeer Patsy Gargan is made deputy commissioner of a reform school as a reward from his corrupt political cronies. Initially, he has no interest in the school, but his sympathy for the boys, who grew up in the slums as he did, and his attraction to the resident nurse, Dorothy Griffith, convince him to take the job seriously. He sends Thompson, the superintendent, on vacation and while he is gone, implements Dorothy's ideas for reform. The school is functioning well under a system of self-government when Patsy is called back to the city to take care of some political business. Patsy shoots another man during a fight and has to go into hiding. Thompson returns to the school and convinces the boys that Patsy has abandoned them. He then starts running things the old way, and when Dorothy protests, he fires her. Then one of the boys, Johnny Stone, dies while in solitary confinement and the boys rebel. Dorothy finds Patsy in his hideout and tells him the whole story. Patsy races back to the school to restore order, having decided to give up his political job to run the school permanently.