Respected Judge Drake dotes on his granddaughter, Temple Drake, who he believes does no wrong. He wants public defender Stephen Benbow to marry Temple. Despite the salacious rumors of Temple's carousing--which he doesn't believe but are nonetheless true--Stephen loves Temple and has asked her to marry him several times; she always turns him down to continue to carouse with any man who has enough money to keep her happy. One stormy evening when she is off with one of those men, Toddy Gowan, they end up stranded at the secret out-of-the-way den of a bunch of bootleggers led by the vicious Trigger. When Toddy abandons her in this situation, for the first time in her life Temple is scared for her safety. An incident with Trigger threatens to ruin Temple's reputation for good if word got out. When one of the bootleggers is murdered and another is accused of the crime, Stephen is assigned to defend him. Temple must decide how best to save herself and Stephen, while Stephen must decide which is more important: his love for temple or his sense of public justice.
—Huggo