Jack Brown is a married, unemployed man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in danger of having his house repossessed. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to get a job working for the local paper, the ''Bugle'', he becomes so desperate that he ends up taking a job as a janitor for the wealthy and ruthless businessman U.S. Bates, who owns the paper, a department store and many other businesses. Brown is humiliated as he clumsily attempts to serve food at a luncheon. He is fired from that gig by Bates, but "Master" Eric Bates, the spoiled son of the boss, sees Jack while looking through Bates' department store. Amused at seeing Jack goof around in the store's toy section, Eric informs his father's long-suffering right-hand man, Sydney Morehouse, that what he wants is Jack himself.