Plot

This exploitation film belongs to the social guidance genre of quasi-documentary narratives, which exhort young adults to follow particular moral and social prescriptions related to sexuality and drug use.

Philanthropist Paul Lorenz is one of the more public faces in the fight against behavior that spreads the many "social diseases", such as syphilis and gonorrhea. An example of such behavior is performing in or attending burlesque shows, which promote casual sex. Indeed, many in the audience at one burlesque show in New York only have sex on their minds, including young unmarried couple James and Jane, office colleagues Peggy and Betty (Peggy is trying to seduce Betty), and Paul Lorenz's own son Tom, who is anticipating an aftershow group-sex party that will include some of the girls from the show, such as Sheila Wayne, who has syphilis but treats it as casually as her sexual encounters. Her fellow showgirl Millicent Hamilton will not be at the party. Millicent was once a small-town girl who was planning to marry her beau, Wendel Hope, until she won a beauty contest. Her prize was a trip to New York, but life there was more difficult than she expected, and a sexual encounter associated with trying to advance her show-business career resulted in her also contracting syphilis. Respected Dr. Hampton informs her that she can fully recover and eventually marry Wendel if she takes the slow and intensive but proven therapy, but when she leaves New York for home--which means therapy with another doctor--Dr. Hampton warns her to beware of quacks who might promise expensive miracle cures. Will she heed Dr. Hampton's advice, or will she fall prey to the hope of a quick cure so that she can marry Wendel sooner?—Huggo

This sexploitation film about a chorus girl who contracts syphilis from a "casting couch" session she had hoped would advance her show-business career, then faces the effects that this disease might have on her marriage, includes out-of-wedlock sex, wild sex parties, and lesbianism.—Ultimate007

A group of people go to attend a local burlesque show in New York City. Among them are a young unmarried couple, named James and Jane, plus two female office workers named Peggy and Betty (in which Peggy, a lesbian, is trying to seduce Betty). Also with them is philanthropist Dr. Paul Lorenz who is publicly speaking out against "social diseases" such as syphilis and gonorrhea which is the result of casual sex from going to burlesque shows such as this one.

After performing in the burlesque show, dancer Sheila Wayne goes backstage and tries to convince her best friend, Millicent Hamilton, to join her for drinks with reformer Tom Lorenz, son of the renowned venereal disease expert Dr. Paul Lorenz, but Millicent turns down the offer because she has an appointment with Dr. Harris early the next morning.

Sheila and her friends attend a party that night and engage in casual sex with the male guests. Meanwhile, Millicent reads a letter from her boyfriend from her hometown of Lorain, and begins to regret ever having left him to come to the big city.

The next day, Dr. Harris informs Millicent that she has contracted syphilis, though he admits that she does not fit the personality profile of the disease's typical victim. The devastated Millicent then recounts for the doctor the events leading up to the one sexual encounter she had with a theatrical manager in New York upon her arrival to the city.

After winning a beauty contest in Lorain, Millicent explains, she left for New York, where, desperate to find work, she accepted an invitation to a theater manager's Long Island hideaway and submitted to his sexual advances. Dr. Harris then takes Millicent on a tour of the venereal disease ward at the hospital, where he shows her examples of the physical ravages of her disease in its advanced stages. Afterwards, he assures her that her condition is treatable with a new cure. He then makes Millicent promise to remain celibate until completely cured.

When Millicent tells Dr. Harris that she plans on returning to Lorain, the doctor warns her to be wary of unscrupulous doctors who bilk their patients out of hundreds of dollars and then fail to cure them. Millicent returns to Lorain, where she settles in with her boyfriend, Wendel Hope, and her parents.

One year later, after having been under the care of Dr. Grenoble, who has assured her of her readiness for marriage and childbirth, Millicent believes herself to be cured of the disease. Tragically, though, Millicent gives birth to an unhealthy child, witnesses her husband rapidly losing his eyesight, and soon learns that Dr. Grenoble has been arrested on charges of medical fraud.

At the suggestion of a pediatrician, Millicent and Wendel have themselves examined by a another doctor, who informs them that Millicent has unwittingly infected her family with the disease. Millicent watches helplessly as her bedridden husband slowly dies. Just as she is about to end her life by taking poison, Millicent's old friend Sheila calls to tell her that she is engaged to be married and that she has been successful in treating her case of syphilis with the new cure.