Loring "Red" Nichols is a cornet-playing country boy who goes to New York in the 1920s full of musical ambition and principles. He gets a job playing in Wil Paradise's band, but quits to pursue his dream of playing Dixieland jazz. He forms the "Five Pennies" which features his wife, Bobbie, as vocalist. At the peak of his fame, Red and Bobbie's daughter, Dorothy, develops polio...
Molly, a young woman released from prison struggles to regain custody of her children. When she bumps into her childhood friend Amina the two women soon realize their only chance is to join forces and take destiny into their own hands.