Tanglefoot Tom was born under an unlucky star. He gets into trouble with his landlady and a cop, but covers them both with flypaper and succeeds in making his escape. He takes refuge in a flour barrel in the bakery of his father-in-law-to-be and is passed unnoticed. Dotty Dough, the sweetheart, thinks Tom is the ideal of her dreams as handed down by her favorite authors, but goes out with Samson Strong, the village "roughneck," just the same. Tom succeeds in throwing them both in the water as they cross a rather shaky bridge on their travels, and rescues the fair one from Mr. Strong's clutches. He and Dotty then stroll to the river-front and are standing on a wharf, Tom telling what a hero he is, when the cry "woman overboard" is raised. Tanglefoot demurs at going after her, but Samson, who has followed, throws him into the deep. He has to be fished out with the aid of bystanders, however. One of the helpers is a peddler who has left his fruit cart alone, and just as Tanglefoot rescues the "woman," who proves to be the leg of a department store dummy, and is safely on the dock once more, the cart starts down the slope and again throws him into the deep, and Dotty is left for Samson.