Country girl Jane Budden goes to the big city, determined to find and marry a wealthy man. Instead, she meets and marries Herman Maxim, a struggling inventor.

Unusually elaborate for a PRC film, Minstrel Man is a lively musical drama built around the talents of veteran vaudevillian Benny Fields. The star is cast as Dixie Boy Johnson, who rises from the ranks of minstrel shows to become a top Broadway attraction. On the opening night of his greatest stage triumph, Dixie Boy's wife dies in childbirth. Profoundly shaken, he walks out of the show, leaving the baby to be raised by his showbiz pals Mae and Lasses White (Gladys George, Roscoe Karns). The kid grows up to be an attractive young woman named Caroline (Judy Clark), who follows in her dad's footsteps by billing herself as-that's right-Dixie Girl Johnson. This leads to a tearful reunion between Caroline and the father she'd long assumed to be dead. If Minstrel Man seems at times to be a dress rehearsal for Columbia's The Jolson Story (1946), it shouldn't surprising: the PRC film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who went on to helm Jolson Story's musical highlights.

Wishing to dispose of his wife, psychiatrist Dr. Elliott makes his patient Nina think that she suffers from a compulsion to kill. He drugs Nina, murders his wife and leaves evidence that points to Nina. The latter, pre-conditioned by Elliott, also thinks she is guilty.

Bumbling policeman P.C. Josser is dismissed from the force after a disastrous attempt to distinguish himself at a nightclub. Mistaking his own comrades for criminals, he inadvertently "bowls them over like nine-pins," leading to his immediate firing. After losing his job, Josser sets himself up as a private detective. He is hired by a young lady who owns a racehorse and needs protection for her "favourite" horse before a big race. To protect the animal, Josser goes undercover as a stableman. Despite his efforts, the horse is drugged, leading to further comedic mishaps as he attempts to solve the case and redeem his reputation.

A woman is married to the son of a doctor, the proprietor of a private sanatorium, where she is under unwilling treatment. Both the son and the doctor indicate they want the marriage dissolved. Arriving at the scene is a mysterious personage identified as the doctor's cousin who formerly was a stage magician in Europe. He is accompanied by a threatening dwarf.