Promoter Ed Hatch (Humphrey Bogart) arrives in a small town in the Ozarks with his monstrous wrestler Joe Skopapolous (Nat Pendleton) and Joe's trainers, Popeye Bronson (Frank McHugh) and Shiner Ward (Allen Jenkins), with the hopes of putting on a wrestling match. Unfortunately, there are no local candidates who could be suitable opponents until Ed meets the Amazonian blacksmith, Sadie Horn (Louise Fazenda). Ed thinks an inter-gender match would be a good gimmick and offers Sadie $100 to compete. Sadie accepts his offer so she can buy a suite of bedroom furniture. Joe meets Sadie during a training run and is immediately smitten, so much that he refuses to fight her, despite her pleas for him to do so. When Ed finds out that Sadie has been courted by mountain man Noah Webster (Daniel Boone Savage), he arranges a fight between Joe and Noah. Putting his promotional ability to work, Ed announces that Sadie will marry the winner. Sadie agrees to this, but reveals to Ed that she favors Joe over Noah. When Joe says he'll give up wrestling for her, Ed suddenly realizes he could lose his livelihood. In desperation, Ed shows Sadie a picture of a woman and children and lets Sadie believe that they are Joe's family. Sadie tells Ed she will go back to Noah, and Ed convinces Joe to lose the fight. Then Ed hears that Madison Square Garden wants to present the winner, leaving Ed with a sudden dilemma.
—Patrick Depew