A newspaper publisher, wanting to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence, talks his possible son-in-law Tom into a hoax in an attempt to expose ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. The plan is to have Tom plant clues leading to his arrest for killing a female nightclub dancer. Once Tom is found guilty, he is to reveal the setup and humiliate the DA.

Molly and Terry Donahue, plus their three children, are The Five Donahues. Youngest son Tim meets hat-check girl Vicky and the family act begins to fall apart.

Reporter Patsy Reynolds and photographer Eddie Porter are assigned to interview John Foster, head of the Emmerson Foundation regarding a listening device the organization is working on. Foster evades them and they to the lab to see Professor Reynolds, the real inventor. Soon, they are involved in several shootings, blueprints that change hands several times, a corpse in their car that appears and disappears a few times, the loss of their jobs and several people who either think they are killers or candidates for being killed.

Peter Kuban, a Hungarian refugee, is about to be deported after jumping ship in New York harbor. He needs to find an ex-G.I. named Tom whom he helped during the war, as Tom can prove Peter's right to legal entry into the United States. If he can't find Tom within 24 hours and prove his case, he will be branded a fugitive and will be permanently disqualified for U.S. citizenship.

A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.

A country girl, wanting to break into show-business, comes to New York City and, by her actions, manages to restore the optimism of a jaded and disillusioned nightclub owner. Eventually, she marries the manager of one of the man's nightclubs.

A fired teacher finds work at a girls reform school and helps a detective on a case.

A charming racketeer seduces the DA's stepdaughter for revenge, then falls in love.

Evie's co-workers at the uniform shirt factory, and her almost-fiancée's inability to kiss, inspire her to slip a letter into a size sixteen-and-a-half shirt for some anonymous soldier. It's received by "Wolf" Larson, who immediately throws it away, but his sensitive, dreaming--and short--buddy John McPherson snags it, and begins a correspondence with Evie, pretending to be Wolf. But things get complicated when Evie wants to meet her tall, handsome soldier. And even more complicated when Wolf sees Evie and likes what he sees.

Merchant seaman Skitch Kilroy (Jackie Cooper) and "Pappy" Reagan (Jackie Coogan)arrive in Marseilles, eager to resume their combative rivalry for Mimi. But they are ordered by their skipper Muldoon (Ralph Sanford) to remain on board and guard against theft of foodstuffs by a black market gang.