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Pop Slavin, manager of boxer Jim Kane, sends his charge to rest at a Western health ranch.  There Jim meets widow Peggy Smith and her ailing son Dickie.  Jim grows fond of the two, and when Peggy tells him that her husband's life insurance money will not cover more time at the ranch, Jim arranges to fight in a winner-take-all bout.  Jim wins and gives Peggy his earnings, and when Pop hears about the fight, he arranges a professional fight for Jim in Chicago.

Jim reluctantly leaves Peggy and Dickie behind, promising to send for them later.  Jim fights well and becomes a popular favorite.  One evening, Jim is introduced to socialite Joan Gibson.  He is very attracted to her, but she keeps him at a distance.  Jim starts to spend all his time with Joan's crowd, even though he has nothing in common with them.  They are amused by him in a condescending way.  When Joan mentions that she is repulsed by his broken nose and cauliflower ear, Jim has plastic surgery, then is told by Joan that he is no longer colorful and different.

Because he is so careful not to injure his reconstructed face, Jim's fights start to bore his audience.  Pop sends for Peggy, but Jim tells her that he intends to marry Joan after his fight with the champion.  During the fight, he learns that Joan is sailing that night.  He finishes the fight in record time and without changing, jumps in a cab to try to catch the boat before it sails.  He finds Joan, but when he learns she is leaving with Roger Elliot, a man of her own class, he returns to Peggy and asks her to marry him.