Herbert Kalness loves his wife Elizabeth, his daughter Alice and his two sons, Robert and Junior, but his affection is hard to discern behind his constant criticism. A self-made man who now manufactures plumbing fixtures, Herbert insists that Junior, his oldest son, come into the business, even though Junior would rather go to college and study engineering, like his uncle, Jim Lawrence. Herbert scorns college men and men with family wealth and pretends to be much poorer than he is. Alice has become engaged to Andrew Goodrich during a visit with her Uncle Jim and Aunt Amy. To celebrate their engagement, Elizabeth invites the Goodriches and Lawrences to dinner. Everybody anticipates Herbert's anger over the engagement announcement. Not only is Alice, at nineteen, too young to marry in Herbert's opinion, but Andy is a lawyer and a Harvard man. To make matters worse, Alice, anxious to make a good impression at the dinner, asks her mother to remove a portrait of Herbert's father and a brass cuspidor, the only two things in the house that Herbert seems to value. When Herbert comes home, he predictably makes a big fuss, insisting that he is a simple man of the people who grew up in poverty without the help of servants or college. He offends all the guests, driving them away before they even sit down. Elizabeth decides that Herbert needs to be taught a lesson, and when he brings some customers to dinner, she turns the tables on him. She removes all the improvements she has made in the house and encourages the whole family to act like rubes. Herbert is taken aback, and Elizabeth insists that if Herbert doesn't act in a civilized manner, she will leave. Brought to his senses, Herbert agrees that Alice can marry Andy, and Junior can go to college while Robert joins him in business.