Pat McGinnis is a brute with a sensitive soul who falls afoul of fate thanks to wanting to impress his love, Molly Sullivan. Getting sent up on a minor charge to avoid a murder rap, Pat becomes the pet project of Father Loma. Befriending Molly, Loma brings her to see pat and begins Pat's process of parole. After a near-fatal incident brings a full confession out of Pat, Loma now knows that Pat did the deed for which an innocent man faces the chair.