Saloon entertainer Vermilion O'Toole and her former partner in crime Newt Cole escape from a train ride to prison and hide out in logging town Timberline. Meanwhile, the three sons of widower Will Hall come to town in search of a wife for their dad. Vermilion needs to lay low to escape the marshal, so she accepts the boys' offer to visit pioneer community Pine Grove. Once there, she annoys local Mrs. Grundys but eventually starts to fit in.
A female ex-con falls in love and hesitates to reveal her past.
College prof Peter Boyd tries to salvage his professional and personal reputation by using a lab chimp to prove that environment trumps heredity in behavioral development.
Ann Martin is serving time as a jewel thief. Paroled and determined to stay clean, she quickly finds out that her freedom was bought by an old, vicious boss that has picked her for a job.
After serving five years of a life sentence, Rocky Mulloy hopes to clear his friend who's still in prison for the same crime.
Police sergeants Johnson and McManus take on Los Angeles confidence tricksters. Con man Tony Wells, lining up rich widow Jessica Royce as his latest mark, sets up a false paranormal society with other charlatans to convince the credulous Jessica that her late son is speaking to her through their sham seances. When the plan leads to murder, Johnson and McManus must bring the group down before they kill again.
Ralph Cotter, a ruthless criminal, escapes violently from a farm prison. Then, he seduces a dead inmate’s sister, gets back quickly into the crime business, faces corrupt local cops who run the city’s underworld and meets a powerful tycoon’s whimsical daughter.
Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.
A down-on-her-luck San Francisco woman, turning in desperation to jewel robbery, barely escapes getting nabbed in a heist and moves to Los Angeles where she gets an honest job as a waitress. Her troubles start again, however, when she falls madly in love, blind to the fact that her boyfriend is a four-flushing, small-time con man.
Al Goddard, a detective who works for the United States Postal Inspection Service, is assigned to arrest two criminals who've allegedly murdered a U.S. postal detective.
Nora Shelley is a tax expert for the accounting company which is led by Paul Martin. She thinks she can find a suitable husband by inspecting their clients' tax documents. Martin finds out and tries to dissuade her from this approach, later enlisting the help of his friend Steve Adams, who tries to woo Shelley.