Having spent several wasted months in a Shanghai opium dem, former prostitute Cassie Cook yearns to start her life afresh. Likewise, ex-convict Badlands McKinney also wants to clean up his act. Upon meeting one another, Cassie and McKinney each assume that the other is a pillar of respectability. This mutual self-deception eventually blossoms into love and opens the door for redemption. The fly in the ointment is Repen, an unforgiving detective who knows the truth about both Cassie and McKinney.