Johnnie Brown is ordered, much against his will, to the barber to have a close hair-cut. Accompanying him is also a note asking the barber to have his father's razor honed. On the way Johnnie meets Willie Green, the adored child of a temperamental mother, who is compelled to wear long golden curls and clothes of a cut that are ridiculed by the rough youths of the neighborhood. The artful Johnnie persuades Willie to take the razor and the note, which requests the close hair-cut, to the barber for him. The result is that Willie, despite his protests, is shorn of his beautiful locks. When he returns home his mother goes into hysterics over the spectacle of her darling boy, but Willie has such a new-born sense of manliness that he hurriedly soothes her, and rushes off to play ball with the other fellows, a new boy. Willie Green's father, on coming home and learning the truth of the situation, slyly rewards Johnnie Brown for his share in accomplishing the manly transformation.
—Moving Picture World synopsis