Mobster Jim (Bugs) Ahearn, Edward G. Robinson, realizing that the end of prohibition is only months away, decides to quit the bootlegging racket and work to elevate his culture and status by reading books and investing in art, and ultimately by leaving Chicago for Santa Barbara, where he attempts to fit into the upper crust of society. He invests in polo ponies, joins a polo team (he's terrible, but is tolerated because of his money), falls in love with Polly Cass, Helen Vinson. He is blind to the woman who truly loves him, Ruth Wayburn, Mary Astor. After sinking a massive amount of cash into Polly's father's investment firm, which, unbeknownst to Bugs, is crooked and on the verge of bankruptcy, the Cass family discovers Bugs' criminal past. They cancel his engagement to Polly and plan to flee to Europe. When Bugs finds out, he calls in his old gang from Chicago, who, through a variety of means, retrieve Bugs' money from the crooked investors. He ultimately realizes that Ruth is the girl for him, and we close on the couple watching his uncouth mobsters playing a most unorthodox version of a polo game.
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