begins in Panama nightclub where one patron muses on how hot weather and boredom can make a human go to seed. Two prime examples are then showed. First, there is the former lawyer, Dick Grady (Fredric March), a former Harvard man and who now wastes his talent on alcohol. Second is Carlotta (Tallulah Bankhead), the notorious hostess of the nightclub who is being stalked by her blackmailing husband. When Carlotta kills him in self-defense and is arrested for murder no one will take her case but Dick Grady. Proving his talent when he is sober, he proves Carlotta's innocence and again regains respect and employment. Carlotta however, is shunned by society despite the acquittal and forced to leave her apartment. When Dick goes to Carlotta's place to thank her, he arrives just in time to keep her from committing suicide.