An American member of a trapeze troupe who found himself stranded in Europe causes him to put his talents to releaving people of their jewels whereby he becomes an infamous cat burglar before the second world war. Imprisoned he meets other criminals and they escaped during a German bombing of the prison. He turns underground resistance, with his new friends, against the Germans. He and his cohorts having been paroled for their services during the war, retire to more mundane professions, until he is suddenly suspected for a new bout of thefts. He spends the whole story, looking to clear his name for 'the frame up'. He get's involved with the latest mark and her beautiful daughter and eventual figures out who is framing him and how, allowing him to catch the real culprit in the act, to his surprise it wasn't who he thought it was.