Willy Fitzgibbons is hanging his hat up at the house of the highly respectable family of the Tomkinses and he is directing all the force of his undying love upon Henrietta, the pretty daughter of Pa Tomkins. Ma Tomkins, upon inquiring into the prospects of Mr. William Fitzgibbons, does not think him capable of supporting a wife and her family, not to mention his own, so does all she can to put a stop to the proceedings. The old lady unfortunately dozes in the afternoon and leaves the way clear to the lovers and for the time being the course of true love acts contrary to its proverbial manner of procedure. But alas and alack, Ma wakes to find the willful maid in the arms of her woeful lover and he is soon the target of unkind remarks upon the part of dear Ma. Consequently he goes marching home minus his sweetheart. Love laughs at locksmiths and soon Willy discovers that Ma wants a bow-wow and he determines to disguise himself as the quadruped in demand. Shortly after a very large and well-groomed poodle puts in appearance at the house of the respectable family before mentioned and is installed In due course. Ma takes a violent fancy to the lovely creature and after her adventure with Fitz she determines that the more she sees of some people the more she likes her dog. This is rather annoying to Fitz, who wants to spend some time alone, or rather nearly so, so he determines to pretend that he is mad. Ma is glad to escape from the violent animal and thus leaves the road clear to the lovers once more. The feelings of Mrs. Tomkins can better be imagined than described when she re-enters the room to find her daughter in the arms of a mad dog. Explanations are soon forthcoming and somehow or other the lovers attain their end when Willy promises to buy a real bow-wow to take the place of the departed poodle.