Farmer's son William Wells spends all of his time dreaming of becoming a detective. After failing at solving the case of his father's missing melons, William leaves for the city to realize his ambitions. Stopping along the way at a sanitarium in the hopes that he will find employment there as a detective, William accepts the only vacant post, that of the hired man. There he becomes attached to chorus girl Pinky Wagner. One night, William is awakened by screams and encounters Keene, an escaped convict posing as an inmate, in the process of a robbery. Keene knocks him out and escapes. Afterward, when Mrs. Richley, another inmate, discovers that her husband is missing, foul play is suspected and Pinky is accused of his murder. Just as William succeeds in capturing Keene, the real thief, Richley, reappears and confesses that he planned his own disappearance in order to rouse his wife's jealousy. Thus, William wins both laurels as a detective and Pinky's love.