Three playwrights, Horace Dryden, Nick Milburn, and Babe Lawton, are in an apartment struggling to come up with a plot for a new play. They have made little progress when an inebriated man stumbles into their room, passes out, and upon searching for identification, they find $15,000 in his pockets. Suspecting he may be a blackmailer, the three decide to use him as inspiration for their play. However, the situation becomes more complicated when the man is later found to have been murdered.