confidence trick "Candy" Johnson (Clark Gable) and his friend "Sniper" (Chill Wills) flee town using quick wits and magic tricks. They catch a train to Yellow Creek, Nevada, where a gold rush is in progress. Aboard, he meets Elizabeth Cotton (Lana Turner); she takes an instant dislike to him. When they arrive, Candy is amused to discover she is the daughter of "Judge" Cotton (Frank Morgan), an old acquaintance of his. Elizabeth is unaware of her father's crooked past and present.