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Jessie Cassidy yearns to escape the squalor of her family's Hester Street apartment so strongly that she convinces her boyfriend, Eddie Miller, to marry her.  At their wedding supper in a Jewish-Chinese restaurant, self-made shipping tycoon John L.  Hennessey sees them and buys them a bottle of champagne.  Eddie tries to impress John, but Jessie, with her sweet devotion to Eddie, impresses him more.  Eddie takes Jessie to a nice apartment, then tells her that she can give up her garment factory job to work in a chorus in a Broadway show, just until he gets a break.

Several months later, Jessie is still in love, despite her friend Beryl Lee's warnings that Eddie is good-for-nothing.  Hennessey is giving a party for the people in the show and Eddie convinces the reluctant Jessie to go.  Hennessey, who has been giving parties only on a pretext of seeing Jessie, makes a pass at her, which she rebukes with a slap.  Even more enamoured of her, Hennessey doesn't hesitate to loan her a hundred dollars after she and Eddie are kicked out of their apartment by the real tenants and Eddie is arrested for bookmaking.

Eddie, aware of Hennessey's love for Jessie, suggests that she divorce him, marry Hennessey, then divorce Hennessey for a large settlement.  Finally seeing what kind of man Eddie is, Jessie leaves him.  Some months later, she returns the money to Hennessey and they start to see each other.  She promises to marry him, even though he knows she doesn't love him, and they plan a European trip, accompanied by Beryl.  Eddie goes to Jessie and warns her to carry through his idea, but when Hennessey arrives, he throws Eddie out, even though he does not know the real purpose of the visit.

After they marry, Jessie realizes that she loves Hennessey and is completely happy in their honeymoon cottage in Ireland.  They soon receive a cablegram from Hennessey's assistant Briggs, advising them that labor unrest necessitates their return home.  While Hennessey goes to his men, hoping that they will stop their strike and save their company, Jessie confronts Eddie.  He tries to blackmail her, but she says that she will leave Hennessey before seeing him hurt.  Just before she is about to leave him, however, Hennessey comes home.  She lies that she never loved him until Eddie walks in and tells her that Hennessey is now broke and "in the gutter" just like him.  He also tells Hennessey about his idea for Jessie to marry him for money.

After Eddie leaves, Hennessey refuses to listen to Jessie's insistence that she loves him until she convinces him that she will stay by him no matter what and that the money from the sale of her jewels will give them a new start.

Notes
According to a news item in HR, MGM bought the rights to Katherine Brush's story before its publication in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan; however, SAB and reviews call it an original, unpublished story.  It is possible that the story was originally intended for publication but instead went directly to MGM for the film.  Modern sources indicate that Brush's story was entitled "Marry for Money."

News items also note that Mickey Rooney was supposed to play the role of Clifford Cassidy but was unable to do so because of his assignment on MGM's Thoroughbreds Don't Cry.  The item also noted that Leo Gorcey had made a one picture deal with MGM following his success in Samuel Goldwyn's Dead End.  This was the only picture in which popular MGM stars Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy appeared together.  They recreated their roles on radio for MGM's Maxwell House program in November 1937.  Phillip Terry, who played the minor role of "the man at stage door" in the film, was married to Crawford from 1942 to 1946.  This was the only film in which they appeared together.  According to modern sources, Frank Borzage coauthored the screenplay with Lawrence Hazard, and working titles for the film were Three Rooms in Heaven, Class, Shop Girl, and Saint or Sinner.

Music includes "Always and Always," music by Edward Ward, lyrics by Bob Wright and Chet Forrest.