Drama set in the office of George Simon, an eminent New York lawyer, who by dint of hard work and shrewd intelligence has risen to prominence from an impoverished lower East Side background. Clients, friends, and favour seekers troop through his office. Among them is a politician who reveals that disbarment proceedings have been started against George for once having furnished a client with a false alibi. The motivating force behind the bar's action is its anti-Semitic prosecuting lawyer.
Needing time to quash the proceedings, Simon cancels a European trip he has planned with his snobbish society wife Cora. By discovering a shameful fact in the personal life of the opposing attorney, George is able to trade his silence for the other's forbearance. George is elated and asks Cora to postpone their trip for a week while he puts his affairs in order. She, however, is annoyed and makes plans to sail to Europe with Roy Darwin, a socially prominent admirer, on the original date. When George discovers the liaison, he considers suicide, but the devotion of his secretary and the challenge of a new and major lawsuit persuade him to make a fresh start.