When Julie LaVerne and her husband Steve Baker are forced to leave the showboat Cotton Blossom, their places are taken by Magnolia Hawks, the Captain's daughter, and Gaylord Ravenal, a gambler. Magnolia and Ravenal fall in love, marry, leave the boat and move to Chicago, where they live off Ravenal's earnings from gambling. After they go broke Gay feels guilty and leaves Magnolia, not knowing she is pregnant.
