A case history follows the progress from hoodlum to hood, and here both people as well as circumstances combine to confirm the wayward bent of young Link Aller. Link, 18, and already tagged as doubtful and held guilty in the death of a friend in a road race, has only his rag top- which gives him a definite glamour for Darlene who moves from Des Moines to Dellville when her father, Virgil Kern, a tough cop and an even heavier father, gets his transfer there. Link is bullied and brutalized by Kern who helps him to lose his job and sees that he can never get another one-in Dellville. He goes up to the city where through a friend, Fred, he gets a job driving hot cars- and Darlene follows him there and marries him. Fred tries to cross him up with Darlene- and then with the organization; wanted, by the police, Link has no other choice than to give up Darlene- and move on to Chicago... A cautionary tale serves as a reminder that compassion might save where condemnation can only ruin--- and this young world, with its jukebox and drug store romance, has its sad authenticity.