Soldier Eddie Pratt smuggles his new wife Sally on to the army base at Powder Island hoping they will be able to have their honeymoon. Looking for a place where they can be alone, Eddie and Sally sneak into an explosives storage building, but their privacy is interrupted when they find a dead body. The dead man, Reilly, was an ordnance expert, but investigators are surprised to find a shipment of new guns in the building, as Reilly never used them in his experiments. Puzzled, Colonel Hackett calls his friend, Colonel Bob Rogers, to help with the investigation. Rogers recognizes Jevries, one of the other workers, as a man he knew in Haiti named Dolman, who was sentenced to ten years in prison on the testimony of both his wife Aline and Reilly, who framed him for the crime. Jevries admits that he knew Reilly but denies that he killed him. Rogers is sure that he has found the killer and orders Jevries' arrest. Jevries flees but, in the confusion, is stabbed in the hand by a bayonet, the same weapon that killed Reilly. Rogers believes that Jevries stabbed himself in order to throw suspicion on someone else. In the meantime, Sally has noticed that the swelling on Eddie's chin where he was punched by the murderer has a mark from a ring. She tries to point this fact out to Rogers, but he discounts her remarks. The soldiers lock Jevries in the building and Lieutenant Matthews is assigned to guard him. Matthews tells Jevries that as he is convinced of his innocence, he will let him escape. Before Jevries can run, Sally pops up from where she was hiding and tells Matthews that she knows his alibi is a lie. She even recognizes the ring that made the mark on Eddie's chin. Overhearing this conversation, Jevries secretly summons Rogers. When Rogers appears, Matthews holds a gun on Sally. Matthews admits that he has been smuggling guns, and that when Reilly discovered this scheme, he tried to cut in on the racket and was killed by Matthews. Jevries bravely shoots Matthews and is wounded in the process. Rogers admits his mistake and Eddie and Sally finally get to have their honeymoon.
The play opened in New York City, New York, USA, on 1 May 1937 but had only 17 performances. Eddie Craven originated his movie role in the play.
The pre-release title of the film was Without Warning. According to a news item in Film Daily, Marie Wilson replaced Jane Wyman in the role of Sally. Ralph Spencer Zink's play was remade by Warner Bros. in 1942 as Murder on the Waterfront, starring Warren Douglas and Joan Winfield and directed by B. Reeves Eason.
