New Orleans newspaper columnist Gabe Jordan, about to retire, tells the story of a most unforgettable character, boxer Socks Barbarossa.
One night, about to have a bout for the championship, Socks abruptly flees the ring and arena. It mystifies everyone, from his manager Peppi Donato to his sweetheart Angie Evans, not to mention her blind father, the Judge.
Socks' opponent taunts him afterward in the empty arena, so Socks flattens him. Peppi offers him a job at a nightclub he intends to buy where Angie has been working as a dancer. Socks also owns the contract of another fighter, Newsboy Addams, but raffles it off. "Pig" Nichols, a gangster, wins the contract, but both Socks and the boxer are drafted and go off to war.
The Judge continues to think poorly of Socks, even after he returns to town as a decorated hero. A surgeon, Dr. Ardley, believes there's a 50-50 chance of correcting the Judge's blindness, and it comes to light that he and Socks are acquainted from their Milwaukee younger days. Socks has scars, visible and not, from a long-ago experience in the ring, that caused him to panic on the night of the most recent fight.
Angie, too, vouches for Socks' character to the Judge, who didn't even realize she'd been working in a club to make ends meet. He concedes to the operation, Socks returns to the ring and great success, and everyone goes to meet newspaperman Gabe at the club to celebrate.
