Businessman Henry Brewster refuses to allow his daughter Edna to marry spendthrift Jeff Thompson until the youth can save one thousand dollars. Certain that Jeff will never be able to raise the requisite amount, Henry brashly offers to match the money with an equal sum. Jeff is determined to win Edna's hand in marriage, so he begins to build up a savings account and sells his car back to the Minerva Finance Company. Mrs. Brewster, who is sympathetic to the young couple's struggle, offers to pawn her diamond bracelet and donate the money toward their goal, but Jeff and Edna refuse her help. Henry grows to regret his offer when he experiences a business slump just as Jeff's savings begin to pile up. When Henry is rejected for a loan from his bank and refuses to abide by the banker's suggestion that he merge with his competitor, Mr. Oberton, Henry resorts to desperate measures and attempts to steal his wife's diamond bracelet in the middle of the night. Henry narrowly escapes being caught by his family by pretending to have been tied up by burglars. When the police arrive, they file an attempted theft report. Later, Henry finds himself mired in more trouble when he is picked up by the police for suspiciously loitering outside a loan company. Meanwhile, Jeff has finally come up with the one thousand dollars, and when it comes time for Henry to make good on his promise, Oberton, who initially wanted to enter into a partnership with Henry because he heard of his generous offer to his daughter, calls the press and photographers to be present at the exchange. Seeing no way out, Henry writes a rubber check to the couple, who in turn sign it over to Oberton as a down payment on a cottage he offered them at a discount. Mrs. Brewster, however, saves the day by getting the check back before Mr. Oberton deposits it, and gives it back to Henry just as he is about to leave home to serve the jail sentence that he thinks he will inevitably receive for writing the bad check.