The employees of couturier J. J. Benson and Company learn on Christmas Eve that their boss has fired a worker of five years for being married. Because of this store policy, publicity man Fred Chambers and secretary Joan Keating have kept their marriage a secret for two years. The couple has also forgone Christmas gifts to save money for a baby, though their baby fund is constantly being drained by the mooching of their uncle George. Fred insists that they should have a child anyway, but Joan refuses to consider one until they are financially secure. Ralph Vivian Benson, the playboy son of J. J. Benson, is forced by his mother to go to work at the shop as "manager of exploitation," and Joan is made his secretary. Weeks later, Fred is upset because J. J. refuses to listen to his new marketing ideas, while Ralph makes Joan work late each night. After Joan pitches Fred's ideas to Ralph, Fred's mother discovers another of her son's business blunders, prompting Ralph to offer Fred's ideas as his own. Ralph, who has fallen for Joan during his four months on the job, tells her about the reformation of his playboy uncle after marriage and how she might do the same for him. Later that night, Joan is forced by J. J. to model lingerie for a customer. She is such a success that J. J. orders her to take the buyer out to dinner. Joan finally arrives at home at two o'clock in the morning with a drunken Ralph in tow, forcing Fred to hide out on the window ledge. Back at the office, Fred learns that Joan has been given a $10 raise for giving Ralph his perfume idea, which causes a family riff. Later, Fred wins the raffle at a movie theater, and his neighbor, Milo Everett, calls and tells him that he has three minutes to collect his winnings. Fred and Joan rush to the theater in their nightclothes, but they arrive too late and end up being arrested for indecent exposure. Ralph later proposes to Joan, but she refuses, telling him she is in love with someone else. J. J. asks Joan why she rejected Ralph, then sees Fred's photograph on Joan's end table. The next day, Fred is fired. Depressed, Fred then goes to a local bar and loses all the baby money in a crap game. Upon learning this, Joan leaves him and files for divorce. Fred then takes a dangerous publicity job in China in an effort to replace the lost money, and he and a drunken Milo wreck havoc on his old employer with a pair of skunks. After their arrest, Fred tells J. J. about his secret marriage and berates her for her tyrannical ways. J. J. warns Joan of Fred's foolish plans and offers to help her win her husband back. When Joan finds their "stork" bank in his luggage, she realizes that Fred still loves her. She then begs him to stay, but he refuses. When Fred tries to leave in Milo's car, J. J. rams him with her limousine. The couple finally makes up, and when Uncle George sends a telegram asking for $200, because his wife is having a baby, Fred sends the response: "So is mine."