Meet Johnnie Bradford (John Garfield), a boozy pugilist who has just become the number one suspect in a murder investigation. Not about to play patsy for a crime he didn't commit, he goes on the lam, hiding out on a work farm staffed by juvenile delinquents (The Dead End Kids) sent there for rehabilitation. Johnny decides to try and set the kids back on the straight and narrow, but time is running out as a veteran detective (Claude Rains) closes in. Now the fate of both Johnny and the kids hangs in the balance.