Bookmaker Warren William refuses to pay off when Clay Clement's doped horse wins; he has the doctor's report. Tired of the rackets, William turns legit, recasting himself as an insurance agent. When his new-found respectability gets leading actress Claire Dodd interested in him, Clement sees an opportunity for revenge: he has Miss Dodd's father, Guy Kibbee, a phoney-baloney scholar who's supposed to be writing a southern-fried history of the Civil War take out a $50,000 policy against her getting married... with William carrying the risk.
Will true love -- or as true as it gets in faux-Damon Runyon territory conquer, or will the fifty grand carry the day? There are lots of fine character actors with monikers like "Brains" and "Numbers" and Errol Flynn gets a promotion from appearing as a corpse on a slab.