The tale begins in Indiana where a young man named Paul Dresser (Victor Mature) decides to leave home. His father wants him to be a minister but he wants to be a songwriter. He leaves in hopes of fulfilling this dream. He gets into trouble and winds up tarred and feathered by an angry mob of townspeople. After this incident, he meets the lovely Mae Collins (Carole Landis). She takes care of him and even gets him a job performing in a cheap show playing in small towns. One day he goes to see a road show of Broadway star Sally Elliot (Rita Hayworth) and realizes his act isn't as great as he thought. He decides to head for New York to achieve his musical aspirations.

In the big city, he obtains a song publisher and meets up with Sally Elliot again. After having had a few unpleasant run-ins, Paul and Sally despise each other. But naturally, the two soon come around. Within a short time, with hit songs like "Oh, the Pity of it All" and "Here You Are", Paul becomes a famous and successful songwriter. But it soon goes to his head and he begins seeing the Countess Rossini (Mona Maris). Returning to his senses, Paul apologizes to Sally with a song and his temporarily pompous attitude is forgiven. They get engaged and everything is roses again -until Countess Rossini enters the scene once more.

Paul's only love interest is Sally and he wants to marry her, but then countess tricks him into going to see her again. After he realizes her scheme, he doesn't make much of an attempt to leave the countess' home, feeling there's no harm in their being friends. The next morning, Sally sees him get dropped off at his apartment building by the countess, and she calls off their engagement. She and her manager, Fred Haviland (John Sutton) (who also loves Sally), immediately go on the road to open a new show. With Sally gone, Paul realizes he can't live without her. After giving her time to cool off, he writes a new song for Sally, "My Gal Sal". The melody melts her heart and brings her back to his arms by final fade out.