Fisherman Dutch marries cannery worker Hattie and quits his poorly paid job to concentrate on getting better working conditions as union leader. Unfortunately, the union members disagree with Dutch's ideas and kick him out. Without a job or union card to get another, he leaves Hattie to look for work. Hattiee steals money to help him when she learns he is really down on his luck and she goes to jail. He gets a new job, foils a plot to dynamite the ship, and promises to wait for Hattie.
When a death row prisoner tells him he wouldn't have led a life of crime if only he had had one friend as a child, Father Edward Flanagan decides to start a home for young boys.
Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy return in this sequel to the original Boys Town. This time the school faces financial trouble as Father Flanagan tries to help every little boy he meets. Larry Nunn and Dwayne Hickman join in this time around as Flanagan discovers a reform school that has neither reforming nor schooling. It's up to Flanagan, Whitey, and the rest of the school to teach them there's no such thing as a bad boy.
