After his release from Sing Sing, Bill Preston is unable to go straight as he is constantly hounded by "Gloomy Gus," an operative of the Tierney Detective Agency. Bill is killed during a bank robbery, and his wife Nancy and son Bubsy are taken into the protection of Mike Horgan, Bill's friend from Sing Sing who had studied medicine part-time. Eluding "Gloomy Gus," Mike obtains a job in a factory but is arrested and sent to jail for robbery; Nancy, a former underworld character known as "Straw Nancy," is also arrested but is freed. Falsely accused of the murder of Pasquale, a fence for cheap crooks who tried to abuse her, she escapes. She is joined by Mike when he breaks out of prison. They go to a small town, and there Mike begins to practice medicine under his real name, Stafford. Tierney discovers the pair but falls ill and is nursed back to health by Mike and Nancy. When "Gloomy Gus" arrives with a warrant, he experiences a change of heart and proves Nancy's innocence. Mike and Nancy then marry.