Maisy Malone went to Hollywood to become a star in motion pictures. Instead she became a sleuth, not by choice but by chance when she stumbled into a murder.

Los Angeles Police Detective Ed Browning intended to write off the death of actor Leslie Clover as an accident until Maisy said she could prove the man was murdered. To top that off, she bet him she could solve the murder before he could.

Browning took the bet and the contest was on to catch a killer. Browning only had a bunch of inexperienced, clumsy, bungling cops to help him, while Maisy had the aid of silent screen actress and comedy queen Mabel Normand. The detective and the actress went to the wire nose-to-nose in their race to solve the crime and needed a photo finish to determine the winner.