Gypsy's mother Rose dreams of a life in show business for her daughters, but Louise becomes a huge burlesque star. Stage musical loosely based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee.

Con artist Steve Blair persuades Tony Dallas, a Manhattan gangster, to finance a movie about Adam and Eve by offering the female lead to Tony's stripper girl friend, Cha Cha Miller. The film is such a disaster, however, that Steve and his writer, Paul Ferris, decide to escape on a freighter to Greece. En route, Steve learns that the island of Paradeisos has lost its tourist trade because it has no apparent historical or mythological heritage. Intrigued, he hits upon the scheme of turning Paradeisos into a legendary island of love and taking a cut from all commercial enterprises. After planting Greek antiquities in the waters surrounding the island, Steve induces Paul to "recover" them, thus causing the tourist trade to increase.

Johnny Stiletto, godfather to the Cauliflower Cupids gang (six world boxing champions), decides to leave crime so his daughter can have a better life.