Joe Dennis and Helen, both ex-convicts on parole, work in the department store of Mr. Morris, who hires former inmates to help them assimilate to civilian life. Joe, whose parole has just ended, falls in love with Helen but, unaware that she too has a prison record, is about to leave for California because he doesn't think he is good enough for her. At the last moment, she offers to marry him, even though parole rules strictly forbid it. Helen keeps both her marriage and her parole a secret by telling her landlady and Joe that Mr. Morris doesn't allow his employees to marry within the company. When Joe learns another couple at the store is married, then finds a bundle of Helen's private letters but is unaware that it contains her parole card, he becomes suspicious that she is having an affair. Meanwhile, Helen's parole officer, Mr. Dayton, visits and warns her against getting involved with Joe, who was once a gun-toting criminal. Joe comes home just as Dayton is leaving and accuses Helen of having secrets, but she assures him she has none. On Christmas Eve, Joe attends a meeting of his old gang, all of whom now work for Morris, except Mickey, who wants the gang to help him rob the department store. When Joe refuses to be part of the heist, the men tell him Helen is on parole. Joe goes home and angrily tells Helen he knows, then walks out. Meanwhile, Mickey has paid a lawyer to protect him if the heist fails, leaving the gang to take the blame for the crime. Gimpy, one of the gang who is loyal to Morris, tells Helen about the heist and she warns Morris. The night of the robbery, Helen, Morris and some guards greet the thieves at the store. Morris gives them another chance by refusing to call the police and ordering them to report for work the next morning. Mickey is arrested, and Helen then explains to the men in mathematical terms why crime doesn't pay, figuring they each will make only $133.33 from a $30,000 job. The men thank Helen and leave, reformed, but Joe is enraged she played "stool pigeon" and deserts her, unaware she is pregnant. She completes the term of her pregnancy in a boardinghouse, while Joe and the men search for her for months. Finally, Gimpy locates her in a hospital, and Joe and the gang come to see the new baby. Joe and Helen then marry again, legally, with the gang as bridesmaids.