According to the terms of her father's will, Agnes Colt must receive the consent of her brother, Horace Colt, before she marries or lose sixteen million of a twenty million dollar inheritance. Unfortunately, Agnes is in love with Robert Ridgway, a wild young man who has been expelled from Yale. Horace finally agrees to the match on condition that Robert reform himself, but before the latter returns to college, he marries his beloved Agnes "on the quiet." The sole witness at the ceremony is McGeachy, a bookmaker who later threatens to blackmail Agnes. Meanwhile, Robert learns that his brother-in-law, the Duke of Carbondale, is unsure of his wife Ethel's love and wishes to entertain two chorus girls in Robert's rooms in order to provoke her jealousy. The plan goes awry, however, with Horace and the duchess blaming Robert for the resulting scandal. Exasperated, Robert and Agnes, attired in diving suits, take refuge underwater while their various relatives and pursuers finally resolve their differences on the shore.