Roy "Slag" McGurk (Beery), the former heavyweight boxing champion, ekes out a living as a bouncer in Mike Glenson's (Edward Arnold (actor)) saloon in the rough Bowery district of New York City. Mike has to meet two brewers for an important deal, so he sends Slag to pick up his daughter Caroline (Dorothy Patrick), returning by ship from Europe. Despite his estrangement from Johnny Burden (Cameron Mitchell (actor)), his boxing protege who joined the Salvation Army after putting one opponent in a wheelchair, Slag tells the young man. Mike had sent Caroline away to try to break up her relationship with Johnny.