Zealous newshound Bruce Corey (Edward G. Robinson) returns from World War I juiced to start his own sensation-stoked rag and strikes a devil's bargain to bankroll it with a well-heeled racketeer (Edward Arnold). The mobster will be a silent partner - until the bulldog editor starts exposing his illegal activities, resulting in menacing retribution that catches others in its blowback, including a fellow veteran-turned-novice-reporter (William T. Orr), a blackmail-blighted songbird (Marsha Hunt) and a long-suffering, lovestruck secretary (Laraine Day).