Private Joe Collins tells his friends, taxi driver Wilbur Hoolihan and unemployed Grover Mockridge, that, having falsely bragged to his colleagues at Camp Saratoga that he "knows all the big stars on Broadway," he has been sent to New York City to arrange entertainment for an army camp show. Later, Wilbur gets into trouble himself, when he becomes trapped inside a cafeteria because he is unable to pay his bill. After Wilbur manages to sneak out of the cafeteria with the help of Grover, Joe and Peggy "Princess" O'Hara, Kitty McGloin, Joe's girl friend, and Gregory Warner, an efficiency expert, are fired. Wilbur then learns that Finnegan, the horse owned by carriage driver King O'Hara, Princess's father, has fallen ill after eating some peppermint candy he gave it, and the cab driver rushes to the stables to nurse his friend's horse back to health. The next day, however, Finnegan dies and the neighborhood accuses Wilbur of killing the elderly horse. In an attempt to raise money to buy the O'Haras a new horse, Wilbur and Grover go to the Sportsmans Club, where they borrow $100 from loan shark Big-Hearted Charlie. They initially lose their money to Slicker, a crooked bookmaker, in a series of phony horse races, but when Grover discovers Slicker's scam, they end up doubling their money. Wilbur soon loses their winnings, however, when he buys a policeman's horse from a Broadway confidence man. Later, Wilbur and Grover are told by gamblers Umbrella Sam, Harry the Horse and Chauncey the Eye that there is a horse named Boimel at the Empire City Racetrack whose owner is "willing to give it away." That night, however, Wilbur and Grover mistakenly take Boimel's stablemate, world-famous racing champion Tea Biscuit. The next day, Tea Biscuit's kidnapping is front-page news, and learning that King has taken a drunken fare to Saratoga, Wilbur and company rush there to tell the carriage driver about their mistake. They hide the horse in the exclusive Oaks Hotel, where Warner has just been hired as manager. Wilbur and Grover manage to escape the hotel with Tea Biscuit, though Warner tells their friends that he will buy the horse for $500, knowing that there is a $10,000 reward for Tea Biscuit's safe return. Separated from Grover and Princess, Wilbur rides Tea Biscuit onto the Saratoga racetrack, unaware that the missing horse has been sentimentally entered in the Saratoga Handicap by its owner, Colonel Brainard. Wilbur is thrown from the horse onto Rhubarb, another horse, which he then rides in the featured race. Thinking that Wilbur is riding the racing champion, Grover places a $100 bet on Tea Biscuit, but Wilbur loses the race when he stops before the finish line to see if he can make the odds go up. Warner then buys Wilbur's horse for $500, and the taxi driver gives the money to Joe so that he can hire entertainment for the army camp show. Meanwhile, it is discovered that Tea Biscuit was the actual winner of the race, earning Grover $10,000, but he tears up the ticket and throws it away. Wilbur and Grover find the ticket, however, and they buy King a new horse and carriage. Joe's army show at the Oaks Hotel is a great success, despite the intrusion of Wilbur and Grover, who have been chased onstage by the irate Warner.