larry hall (james stewart) and eddie burgess (lew ayres) have a successful skating act until larry falls in love with mary mckay (joan crawford), an inept skater whom larry insists upon including in the act. fired from job after job because of mary's ineptitude, larry keeps up his spirits by dreaming of producing a colossal ice show. following their latest dismissal, the couple elope, and mary, feeling guilty for damaging her husband's career, convinces douglas tolliver, jr. (lewis stone), the head of monarch studios, to offer her a movie contract.