剧情描述一个犹太拉比的儿子一心想成为百老汇明星，唱歌跳舞。此举遭到家长的强烈反对。他们只想让他成为犹太教仪式中的领唱。但是深深热爱爵士乐的儿子一心只想唱流行歌曲……多年后，背井离乡，更名改姓的他终于登上了舞台，在旧金山的夜店酒吧里，他实现了自己的理想，成了一名爵士歌手。
第一部有声片，但其中只有很少几段对白，但足以让当年的观众大吃一惊。这部影片使歌舞喜剧演员乔尔森(Al Jolson)大享盛名，并彻底改变整个电影业的轨迹。曾多次重拍，1980年版由尼尔·戴蒙和劳伦斯·奥利弗主演。

Papa Strauss, a widower, is being shifted around from one married-son's home to the other, and is unwelcome at all because his daughter-in-laws' object to his smelly pipe smoking. Finally the family tucks him 'out of sight and out of mind' into a nursing home, with very little 'honor thy father' thought given to it. However, unmarried daughter, Lena, who loves her father dearly, has a bright fiancée, who makes a lot of money off of a patent, and they make a home for him.