Jim Hilton devotes too much time to his lodge membership and too little to his real-estate business. He lets daughter Ethel handle a potential purchase of the Draytons' riverfront property, whereupon she develops a romantic interest in the Draytons' son, Tom.
Jim inadvertently commits money he doesn't have to his lodge's hosting a convention. At dinner, he persuades Mr. Drayton to join the lodge and pay a $2,000 admittance fee, then uses the money for his own purposes. The family runs out of patience with Jim's ways, and only daughter Sprat's disappearance brings him to his senses, at least temporarily.
