In the Eastern European town of Belz, Shloimele, the young son of Cantor Zanvel, runs away from his family and friend Rivkele and joins a traveling company of Jewish actors after his father threatens to beat him for consorting with the group. The troupe, after traveling throughout Europe, goes to America, where Shloimele, in a New York ghetto, wishes he could return home. Fifteen years later, after Helen, a cabaret singer at the Roumanian Garden Café, gives the unemployed Shloimele a job as a floor washer, she hears him sing and then convinces the owner to give him a chance to sing with her on stage. Billed as Saul Reichman, Shloimele sings "My Little Town of Belz" in Yiddish and impresses Yiddish radio impresario W. H. Rossovitch, who signs him to sing on his program. Shloimele's success allows him to send money to his father to buy a new tallis , a prayer shawl, which pleases Zanvel greatly. When Shloimele sings the Hebrew prayer "Av Harachamin " over the radio, a group of men meeting to select a new cantor are greatly impressed as they listen, and they send their representative, Yussel Lufchick, to sign him. With Yussel as his manager, Shloimele tours the United States as a cantor before deciding to return to Belz for his parents' golden wedding anniversary. Helen, who now loves Shloimele, sings as he leaves. In Belz, Shloimele is reunited with his parents, friends and Rivkele, to whom he confesses that he cannot find his real self in America and that she has always been in his heart. They plan to marry, but the day before the wedding, Helen, to whom Shloimele has not written, arrives. After Shloimele explains that Rivkele was his first love, Helen tearfully hugs her and wishes her happiness. The next day as Shloimele prepares to marry Rivkele, he solemnly watches Helen's carriage depart.
--from www.tcm.com