Tremble-at-Evil Tidd, a henpecked Boston tailor of the 1750's, is ridiculed by his neighbors for his timidity. He dreams of being a pirate on the Spanish Main; one night, he dresses up as a pirate, scaring his wife and alarming the neighbors. Tidd hides out in a rowboat where he is mistaken by buccaneers for Dixie Bull, a notorious pirate. Tidd takes command of the pirate vessel, where he finds Scute and other neighbors who have joined the crew to seek their fortune; because of his disguise, however, they do not recognize him. He defeats a British frigate, and for the first time in his life he asserts himself and has the captured women turned over to him. In an attack on a small town, Tidd captures the real Dixie Bull and becomes a hero in the eyes of his wife and all Boston.