Law school graduate Paul Maddox (Douglass Montgomery), adopted son of Senator Robert Maddox (Thurston Hall), accepts an offer to join the law firm of William "Bill" Mellon (Otto Kruger), brilliant but unscrupulous criminal attorney. Mrs. Maddox (Nana Bryant) is actually Paul's real mother, although neither the Senator nor Paul know it, and Bill Mellon is his father. Yes, it is one of "those" plots. Paul is at first critical of Mellon's sharp practices, but he relents when Ann McItyre (Jacqueline Wells, long before she ever thought about being Julie Bishop) convinces him it's all within the law, a fact most law school graduates would have learned in law school. Gambler Georgie Evans (Stanley Fields) comes to Mellon and tells him he has just killed Harrison, another underworld character, and insists it was in self defense. Mellon coaches Evans in how to tell his story to the police, then sends him to police headquarters to give himself up, and then assigns Paul to follow up on the case. While Evans and Paul are on separate routes to the police station, Evans stops by Harrison's and kills him under circumstances corresponding with Mellon's fool-proof alibi version already supplied before the act. Truly a good example of why it is best to consult an attorney before committing a rash act. Mellon learns of this post-dated action but, for a large sum of money from Evans, agrees to have his firm represent him and assigns Paul the task. Paul, of course, wins Evans an acquital. Paul later learns that the killing was committed after Evans had retained Mellon and quits the firm. Paul's moral snit does not extend past the point of allowing his adopted-father's influence getting him appointed Assistant District Attorney. Paul begins a probe against malpractice in the law profession, and Mellon hires Mitchell (Marc Lawrence) to dig up scandal on state officials sponsoring the probe. Mitchell does this even better than Mellon anticipated, especially when he comes back with the truth about Paul actually being Mrs. Maddox' own son. When Mitchell refuses to give up the papers with the proof, he and Mellon struggle and Mitchell dies from a shot from his own gun. Mellon is charged with murder and Paul is the prosecutor. Will Paul send his real Pa to jail for life?
Following his graduation from law school, Senator Robert Maddox's adopted son Paul is offered a job at Bill Mellon's law firm. Mellon, an unscrupulous criminal lawyer, is actually Paul's real father, but keeps the fact a secret from him. When gambler Georgie Evans tells Mellon that he has just killed a man named Harrison in self-defense, Mellon advises him to turn himself in, and tells him exactly what say to keep him from going to prison. Mellon assigns Paul to handle Evans' case, and while Paul is on his way to police headquarters, Mellon, who lied about having killed Harrison, deliberately murders Harrison and makes it look as if he committed it in self-defense by following Mellon's prescribed advice on how to tell the story to the police. Though Mellon later discovers that he has been duped by Evans, he nevertheless agrees to let Paul defend him for a high price. Paul, unaware of his client's guilt, defends him in court and wins his acquittal. When Paul learns that he helped set a guilty man free, he resigns from Mellon's firm and gets a job as assistant district attorney. Soon after taking the position, Paul spearheads an investigation into legal malpractice, which worries Mellon and prompts him to assign Mitchell to implicate those investigating them in a scandal. Mitchell finds evidence that Mrs. Maddox is Paul's real mother, but when he refuses to hand it over to Mellon, Mellon and he fight over it and Mitchell is accidentally shot by his own gun. Paul successfully prosecutes his own father, who is convicted of second-degree murder because he refused to discuss the content of the papers over which he and Mitchell were struggling. After the sentencing, Mellon has Mrs. Maddox swear an oath of secrecy so that Paul will never know that his real father was sent to jail for a crime he did not commit.
