When small-town innocent Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) heads to New York to collect a $20 million inheritance, he ends up a target of ridicule thanks to Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur), a cynical reporter whose demeaning stories have made him the joke of the city. So when he discovers his sweet and unassuming new girlfriend is actually the hardboiled Bennett in disguise, a disillusioned Deeds decides to give his fortune away, an act of charity his crooked lawyer will stop at nothing to prevent.

The change in the life of notorious gang leader Nicky Cruz, as shown in the film, proved to be wonderfully lasting and real.