A sports columnist's greedy wife talks him into shilling for a wrestling promoter.

When Joe McCoy, a sports writer for a New York newspaper is asked to fill in for an ill sports columnist, he does such a good job continuing the fight for clean sports that he is given the job permanently. He often attacks gangster Marty Bleuler, the owner of a gambling casino, who has been banned from various sports, with the exception of wrestling, for illegal betting. Joe's nagging wife Maxine is mollified for a while by his raise, but soon her excessive spending has them in debt again. Joe is assigned to cover winter sports, including the Rose Bowl game in Pasadena. Although Maxine is reluctant to leave New York City at the height of the social season, she finally agrees to go with her husband. She leaves during the middle of Rose Bowl game, however, and returns to the East. When Joe finally returns home, he discovers that Maxine has become involved with Bleuler after having lost a lot of money at his casino. To protect her, Joe agrees to cover Bleuler's dishonest wrestling games. This change of policy leads to his being fired. Maxine leaves Joe for Bleuler, and Joe starts drinking heavily. Connie, another reporter on the paper, who has loved Joe from a distance, finds him with the help of Jimmy Moore, a jockey who admires Joe. Jimmy tells Joe that Bleuler has been trying to bribe him to pull a horse, and the two of them work out a plot to trap the gambler. During the race, Jimmy is shot and wounded by one of Bleuler's men. After Bleuler is arrested, Maxine, whom he has discarded, kills him and commits suicide. Impressed by a reformed Joe, Harvey Morris, his former editor, gives him back his job, enabling him to marry Connie.