Smith appeals to her friend, Colonel McArdle, and he has an article printed about the dangers facing unchaperoned debutantes visiting Storyville. At dawn, assuring Nick she has no illusions about him, Miralee kisses him, and they are seen by her mother. After a month of successfully keeping Miralee out of Basin Street, Nick determines to show her its sordid side to teach her a lesson. Smith, who earlier had lost ten thousand dollars at the Orpheum, wins it back in roulette and offers it to Nick on the condition that he discourage Miralee's involvement with him. Smith and warns her to keep Miralee away from Nick. Jealous of Nick's attention toward Miralee, Grace calls Mrs. Nick discourages Miralee's love of ragtime because high society considers it immoral, and orders Grace Voiselle, a debutante, who is in love with Nick, to take her home. Miralee's black maid, Endie, who is Satchmo's girl friend, introduces Miralee to the blues, and takes her to a 'jam' session featuring Satchmo and his band. Rutledge Smith, from Baltimore, Maryland, is joined in New Orleans by her daughter Miralee, a classically trained singer.
The cabaret, which also operates as a casino, is owned by Nick Duquesne, the 'King of Basin Street.' One of Nick's patrons, a wealthy widow named Mrs.
In 1917, in the Storyville district of New Orleans, Louisiana, Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong plays ragtime music with his band in the basement of the Orpheum cabaret.
