When a pretty Cajun girl catches Captain Holden's eye, he's naturally interested in a bit of romance, until he learns that the young lady thinks he is her fiancée, who was killed in a riverboat explosion over a year before.

Captain Holden fishes a pair of actors out of the river and soon the Enterprise is fitting out to become a floating theater.

Knowing Holden is desperate for a cargo, Colonel Ashley offers a profitable load if the Captain of the Enterprise will agree to take along a woman his son is smitten with.

An army sergeant, determined to meet his quota for new recruits, forces one of Captain Holden's crewmen into his platoon by hitting him on the head. When Holden comes to confront the sergeant, he too is shanghaied.

Desperate for passengers, Holden and Blake agree to transport an opera singer and her musicians to New Orleans for a share of her concerts' gate receipts.