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Dorothy Bronson, a ruthless child of impoverished farmers, is determined to muscle her way into the good life.  Believing that crime offers the quickest path to wealth, Dot teams up with Freddie "Gunner" Martin, a petty crook.  After marrying Freddie, Dot grooms him to be a big-time criminal, engineering bigger and bigger jobs until she is the power behind a gang that will stop at nothing to get what it want.

Freddie begins to worry as Dot squanders their plunder on furs and expensive perfumes.  Flagler, another gangster proposes that they kidnap billionaire Burt Nast, but when Dot's gang stages Nast's kidnapping, she becomes the concern of the FBI, and the case is assigned to Pete Griswold, a relentless government agent, and his partner, Dan Waldron.

Working with the ransomed Nast, Griswold traces the gang's hideout to Dot's parents' farm.  In a blazing shootout, Dot and Freddie escape, but Dot's parents and Flagler are arrested.  Feeling guilty about her mother's arrest, a remorseful Dot promises to turn Freddie over to the police in exchange for her mother's release.

Learning of Dot's duplicity, Freddie tells the police where to find her and the money.  Even with Freddie's information, however, the FBI searches in vain for Dot until she makes the mistake of purchasing a bottle of her favorite perfume, thus tipping the police off to her whereabouts.  Brought to justice by Griswold and Waldron, Dorothy is convicted and learns that crime does not pay.