Margaret Hughes (Claudette Colbert) returns from a trip abroad to discover that her sweetheart, crusading attorney David Rolfe (Melvyn Douglas), has been framed for murder. To save Rolfe from the chair, Margaret poses as a trollop and insinuates herself into the confidence of the criminal underworld. Her efforts to get her hands on the evidence that will free Rolfe are stymied by gang boss Harry Evans (William "Stage" Boyd), but Evans is himself destroyed by his castoff mistress Claire Foster (Lilyan Tashman). The Wiser Sex was inspired by the recent crime-busting activities of New York's Seabury committee, though one assumes that the real-life participants were not as glamorous as Colbert and Douglas. Featured in the cast is a talented young actor named Ross Alexander, who would go on to a tragically brief starring career at Warner Bros.