Chadburne Steel is run by two brothers, old men. They each have different plans for their sons. Curtis (Holmes Herbert) has put Ronald (William Blakewell) through college in style, and gives him a cushy executive job at the plant. John (Walter Walker) has a more twisted plan. He has given his son away at birth to a machinist and his wife. Phillip (Charles Starrett) has worked his way through college tending the furnace and doing rich kids laundry. Upon graduation, he puts Phillip in the lowest paying job possible , with the plan of promoting him to the executive branch in one year.
Both plans are terribly flawed and lead to an industrial accident and a general strike by the steelworkers.