In the shanty town called the Cabbage Patch, Mrs. Wiggs scrabbles for survival with her brood of children and hopes for the return of her husband, who left many years before.
Jeff crece cerca de Basin Street, en Nueva Orleans, tocando el clarinete en el muelle de estibadores. Forma una banda, La Basin Street Hot-Shots, que incluye a Memphis, un trompetista. Sufren para que su música jazz sea aceptada en los cafés de la ciudad. Betty Lou, una cantante, se une a la banda y consigue conciertos para ésta. Jeff y Memphis se enamoran de Betty Lou.
Bill Burnett, a resident of Bali, visits New York City, meets and falls in love with Gail Allen, the successful manager of a Fifth Avenue shop, who is determined to remain free and independent. Bill proposes, Gail declines and Bill goes home to Bali. But a young girl, Rosie, and Tony the Window Cleaner, who dispels advice on every floor, soon have Gail thinking maybe she was a bit hasty with her no to Bill's proposal. Ere long she discovers that she does love Bill and can't live without him. She goes down to Bali to give him the good news. He learns that he is soon to marry Noel Van Ness. She goes back to New York City.
