A garage owner taps into his rivals' gas lines.

While washing dishes at a small roadside diner in Texas, Frederick Winthrop Clopp reflects on his long friendship with the enterprising Augustus "Geechy" Cheevers: As privates fighting in the South Pacific, Geechy convinces Freddy to undertake a risky maneuver, then wins medal for it himself. Geechy, who worships the robber barons, tells Freddy that his fondest desire would be to have "old money." After the war, the two friends drift apart. Freddy returns to Texas and marries his sweetheart Emily, has two children, and goes to work as a mechanic in Lorgan's garage. One day, Geechy shows up at the garage and insists that Freddy join him for coffee. Still a charming hustler, Geechy regales his friend with stories of his adventures over the past six years, distorting the facts to make himself sound more successful. When they return to the garage, Lorgan reproaches Freddy for neglecting his work, and Geechy's blustering interference gets Freddy fired. While standing in line at the unemployment office, Geechy sees the stunning Beverly Ambridge and tries to flirt with her. Geechy moves in with the Clopps, and although Emily resents his freeloading, he assures her that he has big plans for her husband. After mortgaging Freddy's house, the friends open a service station. Business is slow until Geechy has the idea to put up stop signs at the nearby intersection. One day, a shifty man named Mr. White drives in with Beverly and questions Freddy and Geechy about their operation. Several weeks later, White's Circle Star gas station opens directly across the street, featuring discounted fuel and the curvaceous Beverly as attendant. Freddy and Geechy's business promptly dries up, and Freddy despairs over the financial hardship on his family. One afternoon, Geechy happens to speak with some linemen for the Magnagold Oil Company, and is amazed to learn that there is a major gasoline pipeline just six feet underground. Geechy persuades Freddy to dig a tunnel under the station and tap into the pipeline, and they run a hose from the pipe into their own gas tanks. With a free source of high-octane gasoline, Geechy and Freddy begin a price war with the Circle Star, despite threats from White, and eventually drive their competitor out of business. Freddy then proposes disconnecting their secret gas supply and running their business honestly, but Geechy refuses, citing capitalist principles to justify their actions. Geechy hires Beverly to work at their station, attracted by both her beauty and her passion for money. The partners then expand their business by supplying gasoline to other service stations, transporting the fuel in an old pie wagon hitched to a tow truck. Profits increase, and Geechy and Beverly become engaged. One night, however, while Geechy and Freddy are filling the pie wagon with gas, Beverly discovers the secret pipeline and angrily breaks the engagement. After Beverly leaves, two men rob the station at gunpoint, and one of them flicks his cigarette near the pie wagon, causing an explosion. With their station destroyed, Geechy and Freddy flee, but eventually run out of money and go to a police station to turn themselves in. The buddies stand trial, but because no single act of theft was big enough to qualify as grand larceny, they are given light sentences. While Freddy and Geechy are in the county jail, Emily and Beverly pool their resources and open a diner. When the men are released, they are given lowly jobs in the diner, and Geechy continues to work on schemes to make them all rich.