Tom, a business man with a nitwit wife, is broke and in debt all around, but has invented a rapid-cooking stove which a manufacturer is anxious to buy. Inviting the client to his home for dinner and a demonstration of the stove, Tom finds that his wife has no groceries in the house, the tradesmen having stopped credit. The guest, however, brings along his own chicken which he wants to see cooked. Then the gas and water are turned off, causing much scurrying around by Tom and the wife to cover up the situation, and so to the finish.