Uncle Joe is fed up with chopping wood for Kate's old wood-burning stove. Joe tells Kate that people have stopped coming to the hotel because the old stove is ruining her cooking. Joe sabotages the old stove. Kate gets a letter from New York food critic Lucius J. Penrose (veteran English stage and screen character actor. Apparently Joe wrote Penrose and asked him to come to the hotel to taste Kate's cooking. With a new oven and Penrose's stamp of approval, the hotel could be famous. The old stove starts smoking and Joe tells Kate he has already ordered a new one. Meanwhile in New York, Penrose tells a Chef that he hated his meal. Kate tries to stop Floyd and Charley from delivering the new stove, but it's too late. Another problem is that the electric stove has to be put together. The stove is finally together, but there are pieces left over. When they plug it in, the power goes out. Penrose arrives and is not impressed with the hotel or the stove. He says that the only reason he agreed to come was to get a meal cooked on an old fashioned wood burning stove. Kate winds up cooking the meal in the Cannonball's wood burner and Penrose loves it.