Gertie LaRue (Francine Everett) is a nightclub entertainer from the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. She arrives on the Caribbean island of "Rinidad" to perform as the headliner in a revue at the Paradise Hotel. Gertie has earned the nickname "Dirty Gertie" for the casual nature in which she entices and then humiliates men. On the island, she attracts the attention of two U.S. military officers – a soldier and a sailor – whom she nicknames "Tight Pants" and "High Pockets," respectively. The men enjoy sharing Gertie’s affections.

Hitch-hiking conmen Bad News Johnson (Spencer Williams) and July Jones arrive in a Midwestern small town with a capital of 25 cents. Taking a room with Mama Lou (Inez Newell), whose daughter (Melody Duncan) is entered in a local beauty contest, they pose as Hollywood actors who can train Honey Dew in stagecraft. Meanwhile, Mama's other daughter Florida (Katherine Moore) prepares to elope to Chicago with Johnny (Howard Galloway), owner of the Juke Joint...where, after a jitterbug contest, Mama herself takes a hand