A few moments before Charley is to marry, a "friend", who is jealous, gives him an anonymous note stating that the bride has a wooden leg. Charley cancels the wedding, but agrees to leave her his very expensive engagement ring. His "friend" sees his chance to get the ring and tells her otherwise. But when he tries to hide the ring in his top hat, Charley finds out that he has mistakenly taken the wrong hat--the ring is in Charley's. He decides to go on a cruise. The bride, who has found out the reason for Charley's change of mind follows them on her father's yacht. Aboard the liner, Charley is fooling around with his top hat, and it takes a while 'til he finds out about the hidden ring and starts wondering about the situation.
—Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>