A sailor doll, thrown into a toy dump, rallies the demoralized dolls that were already there.

18岁的玛丽（凯瑟琳·赫本 Katharine Hepburn 饰）从法国回到了苏格兰，推翻了冒牌王后伊丽莎白（弗萝伦丝·艾尔德里吉 Florence Eldridge 饰）的统治。宫里的大臣们虽然表面效忠于玛丽王后，但背地里各怀鬼胎。
在大臣们的逼迫之下，玛丽王后借给了好色的达恩利王（道格拉斯·沃尔顿 Douglas Walton 饰），这段政治联姻让玛丽感到非常的痛苦。大臣们企图利用昏庸的达恩利王谋反，在阴谋得逞之后将其谋杀，紧接着又将他的死，嫁祸给了玛丽的第二任丈夫博斯威尔（弗雷德里克·马奇 Fredric March 饰）。就在玛丽因为政权焦头烂额之际，伊丽莎白提出想要帮她一把，可这个阴险的女人亦有着自己的算盘。

Paul Kriza is a cashier of a bank in a small town, and the happy husband of Anna and the father of four children. He is sent to New York to deliver some securities for the bank. There, he is tagged as easy-pickings by a con-game gang and Mary Brown, gang accomplice, proves he is. Waking up in the morning he discovers he has been robbed of the securities and, when he confronts the gang, he is hit on the head and taken out to be left on a railroad track. He comes to, struggles with the henchman and the man is killed when a train comes roaring by. Paul escapes but his watch is found and he is reported as the dead man. But he can't go home again.