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Frisco Waterfront stars Ben Lyon as California gubernatorial candidate Glenn Burton. A freak election-day accident at the voting booth injures both Burton and his hated opponent Dan Elliot (Rod La Roque). While hovering between life and death on the operating table, Burton flashes back to his rise to prominence, and his ongoing romantic rivalry with Elliot over the affections of heroine Alice (Helen Twelvetrees). Landing a dockworker job in San Francisco, Burton gains power and prestige through the "good" graces of his unsavory cronies. Disgusted by this, Alice divorces Burton -- but she still loves him, and secretly maneuvers behind the scenes so that her ex-husband will emerge triumphant through his own abilities rather than his criminal connections. The nagging question posed at the finale: Were all of Alice's sacrifices really worth it?