In 1941, prostitute Mamie Stover is pressured to leave San Francisco by the police. On a freighter bound for Honolulu, she meets Jim Blair, a successful writer and the only other passenger. Initially hostile, Mamie softens a bit when he starts using her life story for material for his writing. A shipboard romance develops; Jim offers to help Mamie make something of herself, but within limits. When they dock in Honolulu, Mamie sees why when Jim is welcomed ashore by his sweetheart Annalee.