In 1886, reporter Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans) is fired from ''The Star'' newspaper for criticizing its methods and philosophy. When his friends stand up for him, they too are discharged. As the newly unemployed men are drowning their sorrows in a bar, Steve Brodie (bridge jumper) (George O'Hanlon) rushes in, claiming to have survived a jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and insisting that Mitchell write an article about it and make him famous. Mitchell tells him he no longer has a newspaper job.