Lazy Sam, a typical member of the tie-walking gentry, accidentally stumbles into a poison ivy patch. His hands become infected with the dreaded itch, and he goes to sleep on a park bench while vainly attempting to scratch away the cause of the annoyance. In his troubled dreams he sees himself walking down the street. He meets and shakes hands with another hobo. The second hobo immediately starts to scratch vigorously. He applies at a good housewife's door for food and is given a saw with which to earn his "hand-out." He abandons the saw at the woodpile, and the next user contracts the annoying itch. This happens to be the housewife herself, and she in turn passes the itch on to her daughter, who immediately inoculates her sweetheart. In the meantime the two tramps have been spreading the itch to other quarters, and in short order the entire village, including the mayor and the sewing circle, are scratching with all the power at their command. The tramp's realistic dream, however, is rudely interrupted when the village marshal's club beats a tattoo upon his thinly-clad feet.