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Unknown to Kelsey and Ryan, two prominent actors, the show troupe to which they are sent by their booking agent, was driven from town by the Constable and his deputies. While waiting for their train the two actors stepped into the depot lunchroom and are seen by Rube and Ben, both out of employment. Rube and Ben steal the actors' suitcases, their wallet containing two dollars, their railroad transportation and their contract to join the troupe for which they are leaving. The actors finding their suitcases and wallet gone and being unable to pay for the food they have eaten, are detained by two roustabouts of the lunchroom long enough for Rube and Ben to leave on their train, and are then thrown out. Rube and Ben arrive in a small town. They pose as Kelsey and Ryan and are informed that the troupe has been driven from town, but inasmuch as all of their trunks, wardrobe and scenery have been kept by the manager of the opera house, they suggest that Rube and Ben produce a benefit performance and use the paraphernalia of the show troupe. In need of money, they consent. The night of the show brings a large audience and the first ac begins, finding Ben, the villain of the piece foreclosing the mortgage on the old man's home. Unable to receive payment, Ben offers the mortgage to the old man in return for his daughter's hand. She being in love with Rube, the leading man, refuses his offer. The old man insists and Ben carries her away, leaving Rube broken-hearted. The first act closes with a disinterested and disappointed audience. The lover of the girl, playing the part of the daughter, is sore and sneaks behind the curtain to watch the final act. The manager also comes to the stage to view the final act. The second act starts. Two years have passed and the daughter having left her husband, returns home with the baby, meeting her father and her former lover Rube. While Rube is acting, Ben substitutes his make-up box for the box of money, but is seen by Rube. Rube leaves the stage and Ben goes on. While he is working, Rube substitutes his make-up box for the money box which Ben has taken. Ben is on the stage demanding that the girl return to him, but the refusal causes Ben to set fire to the house. Rube then returns to the stage and the girl's real lover takes the money from the box which Rube and Ben have stolen, and puts it in his pocket. Rube and Ben start a duel, but are interrupted by the real Kelsey and Ryan, who have finally walked into town. Rube and Ren run off stage and grab the fire torches in an effort to hold the two actors off, but the torches are knocked out of their hands, starting a real fire. Rube and Ben both run to their dressing room, grab their make-up thinking they still contain the money, and run from the opera house, being chased by the two actors. They run up a ladder to the top of the opera house and jump through a skylight to the stage. The actors find them on the stage and demand the money from them. They discover that their boxes are empty. The lover returns and hands over the money to the manager. Rube and Ben run off, grab the fire hose and play it upon the crowd, chasing them away. The two actors still on the roof, throw down two large boxes, striking Rube and Ben upon the head, and knocking them unconscious. The hose which these two comedians are holding is thrown upward, and the force of the water knocks the other two actors off the roof.

Nell leaves for the big city in search of her missing father, followed by a helpless boyfriend hoping to protect her.

Bill Jenkins goes to sleep and dreams that he enlists as a soldier. He is a stupid subject and the commanding officer has to resort to violence to get him to obey orders. The general's daughter joins the regiment, much to the delight of Bill. When the call for mess is given, Bill is the first to arrive at the mess tent. As General Fairfax arrives with the troops, Bill is hastily devouring a pie. General Fairfax orders him to the guardhouse. Later the general notes a distant attack being made by one of the enemy's troops on his daughter. Bill, by a great effort, has parted the bars of his prison and volunteers to save the daughter single-handed. He dashes on horseback without weapons. After traveling some distance, by driving the horse backwards at a terrific speed, he spies a cool spot under a tree. Leaving his horse to browse he lays himself down to slumber. The daughter works out her own salvation and returns to the camp. When Bill returns he starts to relate wonderful feats he has performed. The general, knowing his tale to be untrue, orders him to the guardhouse again, while the daughter pleads for him in vain. Jenkins is to be shot at sunrise. The daughter, visiting the tents, removes the cartridges from the rifles, extracts the bullets and replaces the cartridges. Bill is marched to the execution grounds. He is aware of everything that has happened. The grave is dug. When the soldiers fire Bill pretends to be shot, and after dusting off the stretcher with his hat collapses upon it. Not wanting to be buried alive he springs away quickly and attempts to escape. Then he is put into the mouth of a cannon and shot into the enemy's camp. He escapes again and returns to General Fairfax, who decides to execute Bill himself. He starts to prod Bill with his sword when Bill wakes up from his dream and finds the saloon-keeper poking him in the ribs with a long stick.

An art collector purchases a rare painting and the picture pirate gets two rubes to help steal it. They drink poisoned whiskey and fall into a fit. Later the picture pirate pays Rube and Ben for the forgery, thinking it's the original.

A broken water pipe in the bathroom of Dr. Kripple's residence is flooding the rooms upstairs, and the Doctor sends the maid to phone for a plumber. Receiving a phone call from a very sick patient necessitates his departure, and excites the Doctor into sending the cook for another plumber. Ben arrives with his kit of tools after the water has begun to flood the downstairs, but wastes his time in trying to make love to the maid. He finally goes upstairs as Rube, the second plumber, arrives. Ben goes downstairs and turns on the water, and then goes back upstairs. Rube goes to the cellar and turns on the water, thinking he is turning it off. A patient comes to the house and thinking Rube is the Doctor seeks his aid. Rube poses as the Doctor, but is discovered by Ben, who also poses as the Doctor. Rube throws Ben into the hall, and he becomes so enraged that he locks them in and goes upstairs and bores holes in the floor to flood them out. The other occupants hearing their call to be let out call in several policemen who try to force the door, but leave to give chase to Ben, who has gone to the cellar. The weight of the water in the reception room now forces the door and floods them to the cellar, where the officers grab both Ben and Rube. The real plumber having returned to his shop discovers a note left by Dr. Kripple informing him of the leak, goes to the house and opens a sewer outlet in the cellar which lets out the water, taking Rube and Ben in the rush. They are carried through the sewer and deposited on the ground at the end of pipe where they shake hands over their success at getting out of it so easily.

Lillian, a country girl, loves Paddy, a neighbor. A chap who is the head of a band of gangsters persuades Lillian to return to the city with him. Lil is placed under the care of a "vampire." Paddy manages to gain entrance to the house where Lil is kept prisoner. He is robbed of all of his money and dropped into a cellar. Lil is told that there will be no wedding and is also dropped into the cellar. They escape and Lil asks Paddy to take her back to the farm.

A man gives his wife the slip in order to attend a "leg show".

Lawrence Bowes, a man-about-town, is the sweetheart of Rena Rogers, a dainty demoiselle of the lady barbers' union. In the popular barber shop works Paddy McGuire, the champion ladies' bootblack. Here is a chapter of accidents, each one of which is a screech. The Flirt is chased from one hiding place to another by Bootblack Paddy. A pair of painters do extraordinary acrobatic things from a swinging stage outside a tall building and with the aid of an extension ladder.

"You'll have to ask father," declares Madge. Father, a redoubtable sheriff, is reading a poster promising a liberal reward for the arrest, dead or alive, of Slick-Fingered Matt. The poster shows a large, lifelike portrait of Matt. Rube interviews the sheriff, argues with him and finally fights with him. He is considerably worsted in the mix-up. The young couple decide to elope, but they lack money enough. The sheriff goes to the village and posts the reward notice, where it is viewed by Matt, whom the sheriff fails to recognize because Matt is using a baffling disguise, a large black moustache. Matt, however, is recognized by Rube, who decides to catch him and win the reward money. Matt knows the schoolteacher and sends a note to her telling her to dismiss school and meet him by appointment. The scene changes to the schoolroom, where Madge is blowing beans at the schoolteacher. She is in danger of severe punishment when Matt's note arrives and school is dismissed. Rube, in the meantime, arrives and flirts with the schoolteacher, but is settled by Matt, with a mallet. His prone form is concealed by the teacher. The sheriff arrives. The schoolteacher flirts with him and leads him on, all of which is seen by Madge at a window. In the meantime Rube revives and beats Matt, and Madge calls her mother, who finds the sheriff making undue advances to the schoolteacher. A general chase results, in which Madge follows the schoolteacher and Rube takes hotly after Matt. A posse of citizens, armed with brickbats, starts in pursuit. Matt gains a hayloft and the girl follows. Matt seeks to escape by a hoist, but, while he goes down one side, Rube goes up on the other, and vice versa, thus frustrating his opportunity to get away. Finally Madge jumps on a rope with Rube, and the crook is cornered, and both Matt and the schoolteacher taken into custody. Rube wins the reward money, which is more than sufficient for his elopement with Madge.

Sammy can't get any attention from his girlfriend Dot because all she can think of is Charlie Chaplin. She sends Chaplin an enticing letter and Sammy a rejection, but the two get mixed up, so Sammy dresses up like Chaplin. unfortunately the decomposing film crashes at that point.

Rube, a shipwrecked sailor, is cast upon an island, which is inhabited by a tribe of fire worshipers. The girls of the island take a fancy to him, which displeases the men, and they try to put him out of the way, but only succeed in getting hurt themselves. Finally they do catch him napping, and he is put in a cage to be offered as a sacrifice to the volcano on the island. The girls release him. He finds out that they are afraid of fire, and as the only thing that has been saved from the ship is a keg of powder and a couple of signal rockets, he has an idea. After he has exploded the powder and set off the rockets, they of the island think that he is the master of the volcano. All rush towards him to worship him. He thinks they are going to assault him and runs into the water. He wakes to find out that he has been asleep on a barge and has fallen into the water.

It is a rainy morning, and only a few of the motion picture actors arrive at the Vogue Studio. Waterfalls in torrents on the stage, and the drenched actors file into the studio grounds. The leading woman, the leading man and the camera man are late. The manager calls up the leading woman on the phone, and she refuses to go to the studio unless they send a car for her. Out into the streets filled with water goes the auto. She is called for and delivered to the studio, but refuses to leave the car unless she is provided with an umbrella. The property room and dressing rooms are turned upside down to find an umbrella but none is forthcoming. Finally, the resourceful property man plays "Sir Walter Raleigh" and lays his overcoat down for the leading woman to alight on from the auto. Now that the company is assembled, the director arranges the set and starts the action. A dramatic scene is taken when the leading man saves the leading woman from the clutches of the villain, the starving chee-ild is fed, and when the director asks the footage of the scene, he learns that the cameraman forgot to put any film into the camera. The ill-fated director was revived when he learned that the sun was coming out.

A businessman's jealous wife suspects he is running around with other women. The tables are turned when a friend of the family involves her in a stock scheme. Her husband begins to suspect that she and her "partner" are involved in more than just business, not knowing that the scheme has gone bad and she has lost all the money she invested.

Ben, the butcher, is in love with a girl who does not reciprocate his affections. He falls asleep and has a dream in which he threatens to foreclose the mortgage on the home of the girl he loves. He also makes a regular crook of the girl's brother by having his safe robbed and the money placed in the brother's pocket. Ben is aroused from his dream by his partner, who is beating him over the head with a slab of meat.

Montmorency Jones, a multi-billionaire, receives a warning from the Iron Saw, which states that unless the Octopus fifty-fifties his fortune, and lets his evil pursuer marry his daughter, he can expect naught but vengeance from the Iron Saw. Frightened, the billionaire confides in his daughter's sweetheart, Moon, who is a young detective. He swears he will capture the Iron Saw, and with this purpose in view he leaves the house. Jones and his daughter, Rena, then go to collect rents from their property, and while receiving them from the janitor in the hallway of a dingy building they own, they hear a fight in a room. This fight is taking place between Bill and Bloggie, who are washing and playing solitaire respectively. Jones, incensed because he got the worst of it from Bloggie, orders him off the premises and turns him out homeless in a cold, cruel world. Bloggie swears he will revenge himself, and when Moon is chasing the Iron Saw and his tools, Bloggie steals a bottle of fluid which he thinks is whiskey, and drinks it. This fluid is what has caused the Iron Saw to change his hand into so deadly a weapon, and taking like effect on Bloggie, he resolves to use his transformed hand in wreaking vengeance on Jones. He gets into the house to learn that Bungling Bill has been hired as a butler to protect Jones. Underneath the dining room table Bloggie performs while Jones and Rena are at dinner, with Bill getting the worst of it. The Iron Saw escapes from Moon, and comes to the house after Bloggie has been discovered. Seeking refuge in Jones' bedroom, Bloggie saws off the combination lock and hides in the safe. Bill finds the fluid, thinking it is whiskey, drinks some, only to have Bloggie lose his deadly weapon and Bill assumes it. Bill is thrown in the safe, and with his iron saw starts to saw his way out through the back, when the original Iron Saw gets the fluid and drinks it, with the result that Bungling Bill's hand is caught in the crack of the safe he has been sawing. Events follow in which the safe has to be dynamited by the police to release Bill's hand. While preparing to do this, they decide to throw Bloggie in that he might experience the rising sensation of being dynamited. The safe is blown up, but the two lovable rogues escape with only bruised anatomies and tattered clothes, while the Iron Saw is captured. Bill and Bloggie are seen speeding away in the distance.

Harry Huckins is a gay old gentleman whose young wife is mistaken for his daughter by two ardent young lovers and his daughter is taken for his wife. A feeling of jealousy springs up between Bowes, the strong man and trainer in a gymnasium, and Oaker, a wealthy young chap, when each discovers that the other is trying to win the affections of Huckins' wife, whom they suppose is his daughter. There is a quarrel between Evans, Bowes' assistant, and Bowes himself. Evans, with his gang, then loads a number of Bowes' bowling alley balls with dynamite and wrecks the gymnasium. Out of the wreckage the various parties involved in the case of mistaken identity are happily brought together in such a way that satisfactory explanations are made all around.

Ben falls in love with movie star Dora Darling. After finding crooks' money, he is put to work as the assistant property man. After many funny situations Ben is blown up by the crooks, but manages to escape alive; the crooks are arrested.

Rube (Rube Miller) and Ben (Ben Turpin), in charge of the castle poultry, learn that their ducks and geese have been changed into beautiful harem bathing beauties by the waters in a magical pool in a mysterious oriental palace. Then mysterious things begin to happen that draw the wrath of the emperor.

A scientist invents an insidious bomb: It doesn't blow up, doesn't spread toxic gas, it doesn't kill. Instead, victims are thrown into uncontrolled fits of dancing which lead to their doom. And the enemy will stop at nothing to get it.

Rube has a Bowery belle for a sweetheart. He meets another girl and falls in love with her. As a result of the double love affair Rube gets mixed up in a series of complications. After cleaning up the dance hall Rube is hit with a bottle and knocked out. His spirit is seen to leave his body and ascend to a fanciful spot. There are a royal queen, dancing girls, wood nymphs, corpyhees, etc. Rube is welcomed and he proceeds to enjoy himself. After some time Rube awakens and finds himself on an operating table. He wrecks the hospital and is finally subdued by a policeman's club.

Rube has a sweetheart. Madge, whom he is going to marry in the near future. One day when they are taking a walk, they see a gypsy man beating an old hag. Rube interferes and saves her. Later the Chief of the Gypsies sees Madge and has her kidnapped, sending her father a note telling him that if he does not come across with the sum of one dollar, that his daughter will kick the bucket. The father gathers all of his savings, which is only seventy cents, and takes it to the Chief. That is not enough, and Madge is condemned to be tied to a tree and blown up with a keg of dynamite. Rube tries to rescue her, but is foiled and tied up himself. However, the old hag releases him, and he pleads to be allowed ten minutes to return with the thirty cents that is shy. The Chief tells him that he will, but he lights the fuse as soon as Rube is out of sight. Rube has his money buried six feet deep underground. He digs it up and hurries back. He arrives just in time to throw the keg of dynamite after the fleeing gypsies and blows them up. They land in a hole that he has dug his savings from, so Rube just shovels the dirt in on top of them, and lives happy ever after.

The piano player falls in love with the wife of the bad man. The bad man meets the piano player and tells him that his wife is in the east; and so they decide to go and find her, the pianist not realizing who the girl is. Later Ben, the pianist, becomes the leader of the orchestra and gets into a fight with the violinist. The comedy ends with a chase, a wrecked theater and a bomb explosion which sends them all sky high.

Squire Laurie, the village skinflint, takes a circus tiger as security for a loan. Arthur, who loves Lillian, the old man's daughter, hates tigers, having bucked them, but when Laurie's tiger dies of despondency Arthur skins it, so that Ben, the keeper can pose in its skin before the half-blind miser and save his job, while Arthur warned off the premises by old Laurie, turns tiger occasionally so that he can sit in the cage and make love through the bars to Lillian, despite her hard-hearted Pa. When the old man becomes suspicious he is chased by the fake tiger until he consents to Lillian's marriage.