After World War I, friends Eddie (James Cagney), George (Humphrey Bogart) and Lloyd (Jeffrey Lynn) return to America with ambitions for the future. Lloyd becomes a lawyer, but Eddie can only find work as a cab driver and eventually falls into the bootlegging business. Eddie and George become partners in crime, but the stock market crash destroys their operation and turns the old friends against each other, while Eddie falls in love with Lloyd's girlfriend, Jean (Priscilla Lane).