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Joe Bonaparte was born to be a violinist, but feeling suddenly that life is fleeting and that his practice is getting him nowhere, he decides to take up boxing.  His father, the owner of a modest grocery store, is proud of his son's musical gift and spends his savings to buy Joe a fine violin.

On the night that he is to present it to his son, Joe enters the fight ring, wins one hundred dollars, and decides that fighting is his game.  Turning his back on his father's dreams, Joe hooks up with fight manager Tom Moody and makes a rapid rise.

As the novelty of boxing wears off, however, he finds his inner conscience dictating his return to the violin.  Moody's sweetheart, Lorna Moon, works on the boy to continue fighting for fame and money, but when the pair fall in love, Lorna comes to understand Joe's love for music and tries to persuade him to give up fighting.

When racketeering gangster Eddie Fuseli moves in to assume Joe's contract for betting manipulations, Lorna becomes disillusioned and agrees to marry Tom.  Joe's indecision finally ends when he kills an opponent in the ring, and tortured by his conscience, he discards his gloves and returns home to his father, his violin and Lorna.