In 1941, prostitute Mamie Stover (Jane Russell) has no choice but to flee San Francisco when the police turn on her and want her out of town. Figuring Hawaii would be a great place to begin anew, Stover books a trip aboard a Honolulu-bound boat, where she happens to meet writer Jim Blair (Richard Egan), who is quite taken with the former streetwalker. However, when the ship reaches Hawaii, Stover soon falls back into her old ways and begins working at a nightclub, much to Blair's dismay.