Wastrel New York millionaire Roland Van Dam travels to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, looking for adventure and romance. Because the costume he is wearing includes a red gardenia, he is mistaken for escaped prisoner Emile Le Duc by a woman (who turns out to be a long-lost cousin) who was to meet Le Duc, who was to be wearing a red gardenia. It turns out that Le Duc is the head of a vicious gang of counterfeiters, and Roland winds up getting in more adventures than he had hoped for.
Prince Kaloney, while attempting to incite the people of Messina to reinstate their deposed king, is shot by the police. Patricia, an American heiress touring the world, nurses the prince. The king enlists a count's unfaithful wife and his mistress to betray the prince to the conspirators in office. When the king meets Patricia he forgets his mistress and seeks to wed her although she and the prince are in love.
An adaptation of the stage warhorse East Lynne featuring a young, curly-haired Alan Hale as the villain.