Playboy Ted Brown wakes up with a hangover and is informed by his poetry-spouting butler, Digby, that his father wants to see him immediately at his office. Ted has made the morning headlines for causing a brawl at a local nightclub, and his father, having had enough of this behavior, cuts off his allowance and throws him out of the house. Ted gets drunk, drives to a park and looks at the newspaper account of his activities. While scanning the front page, he notices a story about model Dale Carter, who has been acquitted of a murder charge. Dale is, at that moment, standing on a nearby cliff contemplating suicide. Ted meets her, and after he jumps in a stream, a police officer instructs Dale to drive him home. Because he has no home, Dale takes him to her boardinghouse to dry off. When Ted sobers up, he suggests to Dale that they can both make some money by marrying, then going to see his father, who Ted assumes will want to buy Dale off as she is too notorious a figure for him. Ted and Dale would then split the money and go their separate ways. As Dale is unable to pay her rent, she agrees to the plan and they marry. Although Dale plays the part of a gold-digging floozie, Ted's father declines to pay her off, saying that she is too good for his son. While Ted talks with his father's business associate, George Winston, his father asks Dale if she thinks that she can make a sober, productive man out of his son. Dale replies that she might be able to, for around ten thousand dollars. Ted, Sr. writes her an I.O.U. for the amount and stipulates that his son must not know about their arrangement. While driving away from his father's house, Dale tells Ted that, although they are not in love, she may stick with him for a bit. They discover Digby is following them, and he tells them that he has been dismissed. When the trio stops at a roadside lunch counter, which is for sale by its owner, Nick Papadopolous, Dale makes a deal with Nick, exchanging Ted's expensive car for the business. Dale and Ted take over on the spot, but after their first customer, a gentleman of the road, refuses to pay for his meal, their cash is almost depleted. Digby, however, returns from a shopping expedition with enough food and supplies to help them get started in earnest. Digby sleeps in a pup tent, while Ted and Dale, now falling in love, eventually room together. Later, Digby, who has been assigned by Ted's father to keep a helpful eye on the couple, reports backs to him. When Dale sends Ted over to a nearby steel mill to drum up business for the counter, he secures a job as a laborer. The counter does good business and three months pass pleasantly, but after Ted has a minor accident at the mill, he decides not to return to work and starts drinking. George, meanwhile, who is attracted to Dale, shows up, and he and Dale find Ted drinking at a bar. After Ted slugs George, Dale tells George that she still loves Ted. Despite her declaration, Dale leaves Ted, intending to divorce him. While Ted and Digby try to find her, Dale terminates her agreement with Ted's father and cancels his I.O.U. However, Ted, Sr. feels that his son has finally made good and has reformed himself. Ted goes back to the spot where he first met Dale, and when he discovers her there, they realize that they are still very much in love.