In her hometown of Grass Valley, vivacious teenager Lotta Crabtree is thrilled when the famed performer
Lola Montez arrives in town in 1863. She wants to become a singer like Lola someday, although her parents Mary Ann and John Crabtree, who run a boarding house, do not approve. Lotta has two admirers: local boy Mart Taylor and older newcomer Tom Richmond, who is informed that Lotta is only 16. A boarder named Cornelius who has a surefire method for winning at roulette lures Lotta's father into a game. Her father loses all of his money as well as the boarding house. Hoping to duplicate
Lola Montez's great financial success singing in mining camps for men, Lotta embarks on a similar mission. The miners like her, but they will not throw gold pieces to her until she removes part of her costume. Lotta's father wins a San Francisco theater in a card game, and Lotta becomes a star there. She then travels to New York to perform but learns that Tom has been committing robberies to raise money for the
Confederate army in the
Civil War. The war ends, but when Lotta sings "
Dixie" on stage in New York, she receives a negative audience response. Mart appeases the crowd and begins to sing when Lotta is overcome with emotion. The audience gradually joins him until everyone is singing. Tom, who has been reported as near death from an injury, enters the theater, to Lotta's delight. ==Cast==