Joan Royle, beautiful but naive model who came from the slums, falls for Fred Ketlar, the leader of a dance band. When Fred's estranged wife Adele is murdered, Fred is arrested and convicted of the crime. Joan believes that the real murderer is Baretta, a gangster who was keeping Adele as his mistress.

Joan Daisy Royle is the daughter of a drunken confidence man and a sickly mother dependent upon drugs. A frail type, she has grown up innocent of the world's evils and finds inspiration in a statue of her ideal, Lincoln. She becomes a model, gets involved with a jazz set, and falls in love with Fred Ketlar, famous leader of a Chicago dancehall orchestra separated from his wife, Adele. Adele is killed, and Ketlar is arrested. Straitlaced Deputy District Attorney Calvin Clarke becomes strangely attracted to Daisy, though she is a witness for the defense. Ketlar is convicted, and as the day of his execution nears, Daisy works frantically to save him. Learning that gangster George Baretta is the real culprit, she attracts his attention, thus arousing the jealousy of his girl. In the resulting quarrel, Baretta confesses, but Daisy is discovered and imprisoned in a cellar. A cyclone wrecks the building; the gangsters are killed, but Daisy is safe. Clarke finds her and they marry, while Ketlar is freed and marries a chorus girl.