The story of a young man who arrives in Hollywood during the 1930s hoping to work in the film industry, falls in love, and finds himself swept up in the vibrant café society that defined the spirit of the age.

New York 1952. Mickey Jelke inherits a big sum of money and spends his nights in Manhattan, painting the city red. Night after night, he can be found in one Broadway bar or the other, in the company of disreputable persons like pimps and prostitutes. One day,a shady cop, aided by Mickey's own girlfriend, Patricia, decides to accuse him of running a prostitution network. A scandal breaks out.

A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get her name in a society column.