Teenaged Miriam starts a political campaign to nominate Bill Seacroft, her brother-in-law, for state senator in opposition to the local political machine. Unknown to Miriam, said machine nominates her father, Judge Wilkins. As support grows for Bill, the presence of rival candidates under one roof poses problems, especially for Ruth, wife to Bill and daughter of the judge.

Teenager Miriam Wilkins goes door-to-door, petitioning to get her brother-in-law, Bill Seacroft, elected to the state senate without his knowledge. Bill, a war veteran who works at a bank, is frustrated by living with his wife Ruth's family because he does not feel independent. Everyone is shocked when they learn that Ruth's father Harry, a judge, has been nominated to run as state senator, and that Bill will be his opponent. Although Harry accepts the idea with equanimity, he is outraged when opinionated Miriam publishes an article in the local newspaper in which she describes him as a political "fathead." Dissension soon erupts in the household. Ruth becomes jealous of Bill's beautiful female campaign manager, Tommy Murphy, and Harry's manager, Albert Kummer, who was once Ruth's fiancé and is Bill's boss, encourages the conflict. As Bill starts to take his campaign seriously, he publicly opposes Harry on the issue of a new local airport, which would force many residents out of their homes. One morning, Miriam uses her influence as secretary of the Civic Betterment Committee to arrange a live radio broadcast from her home. The broadcast is a disaster because everyone is angry at one another, and Bill and Ruth separate after she stubbornly refuses to join him and move out of the house. Harry disapproves of the separation, and he later tips off Bill about a duplex that Ruth is showing in her new job as a real estate agent. Bill rents the duplex and he and Ruth almost reunite, but she is still too jealous of Bill, whose relationship with Tommy is strictly business, to move in. Later, however, Tommy admits that she has fallen for Bill, but he rejects her advances. When Ruth accepts a job in Chicago, Miriam decides to reunite her sister with Bill, and convinces him to take her to a dance, as she is having a fight with her boyfriend Ziggy. Ruth, however, is already on her way to the train station with Albert, who hopes to renew their relationship, so Harry arranges for the police to arrest Albert for bad brakes. Albert and Ruth are brought into court, and Harry insists that they remain in town for a trial until the next week. At the dance, Albert informs Bill that he has been disqualified as a candidate because he moved to another district, and Harry's sponsor announces that land will be donated to any homeowners displaced by the new airport. With the political conflict resolved, Bill gives Albert a black-eye for interfering, and Harry lectures Ruth about her wifely duties. Ruth and Bill finally reunite, and Miriam starts a new petition to nominate him for state senator.