Barabara Stanwyck plays fired Journalist Ann Mitchell, who as a parting shot, prints a fake letter from unemployed 'John Doe' threatening suicide in protest of social ills. The ensuing huge swell of public interest and sales, forces the paper to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate 'Doe'. Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up 'John Doe' philosophy starts a whole political movement. At last everyone, even Ann, takes her creation seriously but newspaper publisher D.B. Norton has a secret plan.