Helen Morgan's career in the 1920s and 1930s is traced from her early days performing outside at a fair, through her years as a chorus girl and in speakeasies, to her Broadway prominence in Ziegfeld's "Show Boat." Performances of several of the songs she made famous mark her engagement with Larry Maddux, a gin-runner and con artist, and Russell Wade, a well-known, married New York lawyer, as well as her downfall due to these failed relationships and alcohol.
Helen Morgan, a torch singer, climbs from humble beginnings to fame and money, only to lose everything due to alcohol and bad decisions.