Chick Moran is a fighter known as the "horizontal champ" because he is always getting knocked out. After Chick appears too late for a fight, his manager, Hap Hurley, loses all his money to the competitors. Unable to pay their taxi fare, Chick and Hap meet a drunk who pays it for them and invites them into his mansion. After he has sobered up, they find out he is Clint Blackburn, a perpetual drunk whose sister, Sue Parker, is being intimidated by her estranged husband, George Parker. George wants custody of their little son Jimmy, who is the sole heir to his grandfather's estate. Clint decides to hire Hap and Chick, under the guise of butlers, to train him to be a fighter so he can stand up to George, and to keep him sober. Sue is delighted with the arrangement, and both she and her little son Jimmy enjoy Chick and Hap's presence in the home. Sue wants to marry Major Fitz-Stanley, and when George visits to discuss their divorce, he becomes threatening, and Hap and Chick throw him out. At a party, one of the guests recognizes Hap and arranges a fight between Chick and his chauffeur, Pinky Duffey. Chick and the housemaid Marie have fallen in love, and she finds out from Hap that Chick will be badly beaten in the fight because he lacks the killer instinct. When Chick learns that George has promised Duffey $2,000 if he wins, Chick vows to trounce the fighter for Marie, because George has attempted to seduce her more than once. Clint breaks his promise and gets drunk, but Hap finds him and threatens to quit because of this. The fight is held at the house, attended by many guests. At first Chick is soundly beaten, but he recovers, and when Marie discovers Jimmy missing, Chick knocks out Duffey, winning the fight. George arrives at the house, and as each person encounters him, they hit him. To everyone's relief, Jimmy is found in the garage, where he and his little friends are conducting their own boxing match. Under pressure from everyone, who want to have George arrested, he agrees to divorce Sue and give her custody of Jimmy. Chick and Marie decide to get married, and one of the guests has fallen in love with Hap.
