As Los Angeles cops raid his illegal gambling yacht, owner Jim McFee shoots and kills his double-crossing watchman. To cover for his boss, one of McFee's employees, Ronny Hillyer, grabs the gun and dives overboard. While a police manhunt scours the waterfront, Hillyer hides out in a nearby houseboat, disguised as a sailor. He's in no hurry to skip town after meeting and falling in love with beautiful Joan O'Brien. The hunted man has more to worry about than the police - Joan's rival suitor is getting suspicious about Hillyer's true identity.
Although produced after the enforcement of the Hollywood censorship code, Waterfront Lady has the tough and raunchy spirit of an early '30s gangster melodrama ("My mother didn't leave me much," says moll Barbara Pepper, "but she left it in all the right places.") Aside from its stellar cast, the supervising editor for this Mascot production was future film noir director Joseph H. Lewis (Gun Crazy, The Big Combo).