Three buddies come to blows when they hire a beautiful housekeeper.

After many years at sea, Captain Zenas Henry Brewster, a crusty Cape Cod fisherman, sells his boat and settles down in Wilton Junction. Soon bored with life on land, however, he drops in on his neighbor, spinster Abbie Howland, and proposes to her for the fifteenth time in as many years. Because of his fiery temper, Abbie again rejects him, but offers to work as his daytime housekeeper, and after an intense cleaning, Zenas' old house is transformed into a cozy home. In spite of Abbie's admonishments, Zenas opens his door to his raggedy seamates, Captain Jeremiah Taylor and Captain Ben, who quickly become part of Abbie's tidy, well-fed household. Later, during a brutal storm, the captains rescue a shipwrecked girl, Susan Ann, the teenaged daughter of the doomed ship's skipper. Zenas adopts Susan Ann as his own and worries when she becomes involved with Jimmy Howell, the son of a Boston millionaire. Prejudiced against Jimmy because he is "summer folk," Zenas discourages Susan Ann from seeing him until he makes a public proposal of marriage. Abbie, meanwhile, frets over Zenas' dwindling finances and pushes him to buy the cranberry bog that he has been talking about for months. Cajoled by a salesman, Zenas uses all of his savings and takes a mortgage on his house to buy the land, which turns out to be a worthless swamp. Broke, he is then forced to take a job as a second mate on an old freighter. When the freighter's boiler explodes off the Mexican coast, Zenas saves twelve of his seamates, but is badly injured during the rescue. Hospitalized for months, Zenas is unaware of the sacrifices that Abbie and the others make to pay his medical bills. Jimmy, who has read about Zenas' heroism, buys the swamp as part of an elaborate development plan and prevents the foreclosing of Zenas' house. When Zenas finally returns, he receives a hero's welcome and, after learning of Jimmy's deed, gives Susan Ann his blessing.