Duke Davis (Ralph Cooper) has invested all his savings to back his sweetheart, Ethel (Lena Horne), in a road show over the old T.O.B.A. circuit, on which they have both been performers since childhood. Marshall (Monte Hawley), a New York talent scout, makes an offer to Ethel as a single and, to induce her to take it, Duke writes a fake check, made out to him, for $5000 pretending he has sold his contract with Ethel to Marshall. Resentful and heartbroken, she accepts and becomes a big hit in New York.

Tex Houston (Tex Ritter) returns to Santa Fe to find his Mother murdered. Foster (John Merton) runs the town and all crimes committed by his gang are blamed on Rogel (Karl Hackett) and his men. Foster makes Tex Marshal but this backfires when Tex enlists Rogel and his men and goes after Foster who he now knows is responsible for his Mother's death.

Mandy Jenkins, an African American cook for a wealthy white family in Birmingham, Alabama, discovers her husband Cornell is having an affair with Eloise Jackson. When she confronts her husband and Eloise at a nightclub, a violent fight ensues. Eloise leaves Birmingham and relocates to Harlem, getting a job as a cabaret vocalist under the stage name Cora Smith. She is followed to Harlem by her husband, Lem, who gets mixed up in the local crime scene. Mandy also arrives in New York, having left Cornell. She gets a job as the wardrobe mistress at the cabaret where Eloise is performing.

A night in a small library. The characters of famous books come to life, referring to movie versions of these books.