Based on a play by Joseph Schrank and Philip Dunning, a composite photo wins a beauty contest, and publicity leads two con men to find a maid to play the role.
Loretta (Marion Davies) arrives in New York, goes to the Park Regis Hotel, and gets a job as a maid, giving dog's food to broke Click Wiley (Pat O'Brien) and Ed Olson (Frank McHugh). Gladys (Mary Astor) tells Ed to work; but Wiley enters Ed's composite photo in a radio beauty contest. Loretta meets aviator Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell), and he loves the photo of Dawn Glory. Wiley wins the $2500 contest, and Nelson flies serum to save quadruplets in Alaska, proposing to Glory on the radio. Reporters hound Wiley about Glory, and he gets the maid Loretta to speak as her on the radio, accepting Nelson's proposal. Hamburgher of Nemo Yeast offers Glory $1,000 per broadcast, and his competitor Freischutz (Joseph Cawthorn) offers 50% more. The reporter Slattery (Lyle Talbot) hires an actress to say she is Dawn's mother.
Loretta gets a Dawn Glory hairstyle. An employee of Freischutz hires gangsters to find Glory. The maid Betty (Patsy Kelly) tells Loretta not to talk with guests. Slattery discovers a past fraud of Wiley and demands an interview with Glory. Nelson brings an engagement ring. Reporters barge in, and Gladys and Ed present Loretta as Dawn Glory. Wiley tells her she is Dawn Glory and gives her intelligent answers to questions. Nelson meets her. Through the ceiling Petey (Allen Jenkins) and Blackie (Barton MacLane) hear the real story. Loretta asks Slattery to help her see Nelson. She looks at Nelson's photo, and he sings "Page Miss Glory." Gladys notes how Ed and Wiley are milking the golden calf for fancy clothes. Loretta tries to escape; so Wiley sends her off on a ride with Ed, making Gladys jealous. Petey and Blackie hold up Wiley, blackmailing him for $5,000. Instead Wiley hires them to snatch Nelson. Ed locks Loretta in, but Betty comes in to clean and recognizes her. Loretta asks Betty to get Slattery to bring Nelson. Gladys gives Blackie the money to get Nelson, suggesting they take Glory too.
Nelson calls on Glory and asks her to elope. Betty calls her Loretta, and Ed comes in. Loretta tells Nelson she is Loretta; but he say it doesn't matter. Blackie and Petey come in with a trunk, make Nelson, Ed, and Slattery take off their pants, and kidnap Glory. Nelson climbs in the window and pushes Petey into the trunk to rescue Loretta. Wiley shows reporters the trunk, but to his surprise reveals Petey. Nelson flies by with Loretta, who says she is going to be a loving bride, not a symbol.
This comedy satirizes the publicity hysteria that may surround a glamorous woman or a sensational aviator.