Plot
Ned Faraday, an American chemist, has been inadvertently poisoned by radium and expects to die within a year, until he learns that Professor Holzapfel, a famous physician in Dresden, has developed a treatment that may be able to heal him. The night after he hears this good news, while putting his son Johnny to bed, Ned and his wife Helen recite the story of the day on which they had met. While traveling in Germany as a young man, Ned encountered Helen swimming in a pond with several other girls. She coyly told him that she would grant him a wish if he left, and Ned wished to see her again. He watched her perform onstage at a local theater and then they went for a walk and had their first kiss.
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After Johnny falls asleep, Ned discusses with Helen the possibility of traveling to see Professor Holzapfel. To help pay for the trip, Helen decides to return to the stage and finds employment at a local nightclub. She befriends fellow cabaret girl Taxi, who tells her about Nick Townsend, a wealthy politician and frequent patron of the club who gave Taxi an expensive bracelet in exchange for a "favor."
Helen, billed as "blonde Venus," has a successful debut performance, singing "Hot Voodoo" after emerging from a gorilla suit, and is noticed by Nick. Enamored of Helen, he approaches her after the show, and the two begin to talk. Upon learning of Ned's medical condition, Nick gives Helen $300 as a down payment for Ned's treatment.
After Ned's departure for Germany, Nick offers to house Helen and Johnny in a nice apartment and support her so she that she will not have to work. She and Nick develop a romance, but after learning of Ned's impending return, she tells him that she must end the relationship. The two take a two-week vacation together just prior to Ned's scheduled return date, but Ned arrives ahead of schedule and finds his home empty.
When Helen returns to her old apartment after her vacation with Nick and discovers that Ned is already there, she confesses that she has been unfaithful. Ned sarcastically thanks her for saving his life and tells her to bring Johnny to him and then leave their home, assuring her that the law will be on his side if she decides to fight for custody. Helen instead flees with Johnny, and Ned reports them missing.
While on the run, Helen initially supports herself and Johnny by performing in nightclubs. This makes her too easy to find, so she resorts to doing whatever she can to quietly subsist, such as washing dishes in exchange for meals. She is arrested for vagrancy in New Orleans and is nearly jailed because she cannot afford the fine, but the judge, learning that she has a child, releases her providing that she leave town. Eventually realizing such a lifestyle is unstable for Johnny, Helen voluntarily surrenders to a detective in Galveston, Texas. Ned collects his son and gives Helen enough money to repay what Nick had provided for his treatment.
Following an emotional breakdown, Helen begins to work relentlessly, singing and performing in cabarets. She makes her way to Paris, where she reunites with Nick when he attends one of her shows. He does not believe her when she says that she is better on her own, so he invites her to return to New York with him to see Johnny. At first she declines, but ultimately accepts.
At Ned's apartment, Nick arranges for Helen to visit Johnny and then leaves the family alone. Before Helen goes to Nick, whom she plans to marry, Johnny requests that his mother relate the story of how she met his father. She tells him to ask his father, who says that he has forgotten, so Johnny begins to tell the story himself, encouraging Ned and Helen to join him. Helen and Ned realize how their separation has affected Johnny. To help Johnny fall asleep, Helen sings a Heinrich Heine poem that she used to sing to him before bed each night. Reminded of their feelings for each other, Helen and Ned agree to reconcile.
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