Seventeen-year-old William Sylvanus Baxter is full of the pomposity of his age and insists on being treated like an adult. He falls in love at first sight with Lola Pratt, a young sophisticate from Chicago who has comes to stay with her friend, May Parcher, after her parents had her marriage annulled. When Lola shows disdain for Willie's beat up roadster, he goes into debt for a new car, and borrows his father's tuxedo to take Lola to a nightclub. Willie is upstaged by George Crooper, however, a slick fast-talker who is old enough to buy Lola drinks. From then on, Willie vies for Lola's attention with George. In the meantime, he fends off his snooping little sister Jane and the worries of his parents, who have noticed a change in him. Willie falls behind in his car payments, but his father wants to teach him a lesson and refuses to help make the payments. When Jane tells her parents that she saw Willie sneaking out with a suitcase, they fear that he has eloped with Lola, but he returns to report that he sold his clothes to make another car payment so that he could have one last date with Lola before she leaves town. Willie's understanding mother gives him his father's freshly pressed suit for his date, and Mr. Baxter gives her money for the car payment, which she slips in Willie's pocket. Willie does not find the money however, and evades the car salesman until he finds him at the party where Willie is forced to give him the keys to the car. To both George and Willie's surprise, Lola leaves the party early with her former husband Jack, with whom she plans to stay. Willie then returns home to his parents, and after discovering the money in his pocket, he realizes how wonderful they are.
