 When Julie la Verne and her husband Steve Baker are forced to leave the showboat Cotton Blossom (their marriage is illegal because of Julie s mixed blood),their places are taken by Magnolia Hawks, the Captain s daughter, and Gaylord Ravenal, a gambler. Magnolia and Ravenal fall in love, marry, leave the boat and move to Chicago, where they live off Ravenal s earnings from gambling. After they go broke Gay feels guilty and leaves Magnolia, not knowing she is pregnant.