Sacked by her newspaper, spunky scribe Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) hatches a hoax to keep her job. In her final column, she pens a missive from "John Doe," a fictitious hobo planning to leap to his death from city hall. When the letter triggers a public flap, the paper -- looking to boost readership -- cons a suitable stooge (Gary Cooper) into posing as Doe. Little does he know the paper's owner plans to use him as a ticket to the presidency.