Dummy inventor Samuel Tinker has just developed a new life-sized mechanical dummy. He and his partner, Peter Clay, modeled the dummy after a janitor in their building. While the inventor's daughter is in love and engaged to Clay, the janitor pines for the daughter. A misunderstanding breaks up the partnership, and Tinker forbids his daughter from marrying his now ex-partner. But the daughter hopes a possible lucrative purchase of the dummy from a vaudeville company will be the impetus for her father and Clay to mend their differences, and for them again to be married. The janitor, who sees this rift as an opportunity, hatches his own plan to be near the one he loves, the plan which involves him taking the place of the dummy. Not wanting to blow his cover, the janitor keeps on masquerading as the dummy even after the sale to the vaudeville company. A life-like dummy with a mind of his own on the loose has its own consequences.