A man who's presumed dead returns to his family.

Vern Adams, a mild-mannered pet store owner, is henpecked by his wife Cora, brow-beaten by his brothers-in-law, Roscoe and Ernest, and perceived as a ne'er-do-well by the entire population of Edenville, the small rural town in which he dwells. Although Vern and Cora insist that their daughter Billie accept a marriage proposal from the respectable Mortimer Hopkins, Jr., Vern later follows Billie to a dance and apologizes to her for his forcefulness. At the dance hall, Vern meets the bandleader, Lanny Shea, who is a snobbish "city slicker" from New York. One day, Vern receives a phone call from an old school chum in Australia, John "Fishface" Thomas, who asks Vern to come and advise him on how to distribute the half-million dollar donation he intends to present to Edenville, his hometown. Vern immediately sets out for Australia, but in New York misses his boat and is thrown in jail on charges of being drunk and disorderly following his refusal to pay an unfairly high restaurant bill. After serving a two-month jail sentence, Vern is released and calls on Lanny, the only person he knows in New York, to help him get back to Edenville. Lanny, who extended an insincere invitation to him and his daughter when they met in Edenville, grudgingly agrees to take Vern home. Upon his arrival in Edenville, Vern learns that John Thomas has died and discovers that his own family believes that he is dead because they heard that the ship on which he was to have sailed sank. Since his assumed death, Vern's family has collected a large sum of money on his life insurance policy. Realizing that his family is better off being provided for by the insurance money, Vern tells them that he is going to hide in the attic so that they can continue collecting the money. Meanwhile, Lanny, who decided to stay in town after delivering Vern, has fallen in love with Billie. When Vern discovers that Mortimer Hopkins, Sr., the town banker, is involved in an investment fraud, he uses one of Lanny's band members to pose as Mr. Morley, a representative of John Thomas, to catch Hopkins in the act. Billie soon spurns Lanny for the wealthy Mortimer Hopkins, Jr., but takes him back when Vern exposes Hopkins' fraud. Vern emerges from the attic as the town hero and takes his place as the new master of his family.