On a seaside holiday, pretty Bristol typist Shirley meets Dan Mackenzie from her local paper. He persuades her that she has what it takes in the world of beauty contests, and so it proves. Ditching her predictable fiance and having to leave home, Shirley moves to London to continuing success. Increasingly smitten by her, Dan reckons he should be more than just her manager, but this is not at all the way Shirley sees things.

Shirley Freeman, a typist, is vacationing at the beach when she is approached by newspaper reporter Don Mackenzie and persuaded to enter a beauty contest. Don and his photographer friend, Walter, write a newspaper article on Shirley with pin-up pictures. Shirley's parents and her boyfriend, Harry, express their disapproval of her activities, but Shirley decides to pursue her new career. After winning the "Rose of England" contest, Shirley becomes a professional beauty contestant. Don, her promoter, has fallen in love with Shirley, but she does not return his attentions. When movie actor Rex Carrick also falls in love with her, he tries to persuade Shirley to quit the beauty business. Instead, Shirley becomes more obsessed with fame and goes on to enter the "Miss Globe" contest in southern France and to seduce one of the organizers in hopes of winning. Miss Peru, who also seduced a contest organizer, is declared the winner, however. Greatly disillusioned, Shirley returns to England, where her participation in beauty contests is limited to judging. One day Shirley recognizes her younger sister, Elaine, as one of the contestants and panics as she recalls her own experiences. She flees from her judge's chair, and runs into Don, who seems to understand her reaction.