 In 1919, returning soldier Pete Kelly wins a cornet in a crap game. By 1927, he has a small jazz band playing in a Kansas City speakeasy. Gangster Fran McCarg wants extortion money from Pete; hot flapper Ivy Conrad wants Pete in person; but Pete just wants to keep the band together. Against a background of Dixieland jazz, pervasive corruption and angst may finally force Pete to take action.