Abe Saperstein, owner/manager of the world-famous "Harlem Globetrotters", an all-Negro professional basketball team, signs Billy Townsend, an All-American, to play with the "Globetrotters." Saperstein wants Billy to finish school first and get his degree but, despite the good advice, Billy quits college and joins the team. He becomes the team star, gets married after sneaking out of a hotel contrary to Saperstein's instructions, and is injured when returning to the hotel. As a result, the team loses an important game, and Billy is fired. He signs a big-money contract to play with another team in the following season, but after a heart-to-heart talk with his wife about caring for others instead of just himself, he asks his old team to take him back. By rejoining the "Globetrotters," he invalidated the big money contract.