A man known as The Drifter returns home to his cabin in the woods and winds up getting involved with an escaped convict, a gunfighter, lumber company rivals, mysterious family ties and murder.
Socialite Pat Reynolds (Ida Lupino) is forced to become the "smart girl" of the title when her wealthy father commits suicide, leaving nothing but a pile of debts. Pat sets up a successful hat-designing business, providing the sole support for herself and her sister Kay (Gail Patrick). So devoted is Pat to Kay's welfare that she stands by in stoic silence as Kay begins romancing Pat's sweetie Nick Graham (Kent Taylor).
Maggie De Cray and her daughter, Maybelle, run a theatrical boarding house. Horatio Payne is a star boarder. Olga Petrino, a vaudeville queen, arrives with her pet leopards. Horatio Payne makes eyes at Maybelle and incurs the enmity of Thomas Blake, a property man, who is fair Maybelle's intended.
A crooked lawyer trying to cheat a young girl out of her inheritance tries to convince a sea captain to help him. Re-released in 1939 as "Phantom Submarine U-67."
A thrilling drama of young love and the great sacrifice made by railroad workers that we may travel in safety. (Print ad- Evening News, Tonawanda, N.Y. 4 February 1931)
