Ort Hutchins is a confirmed loafer who spends all of his time fishing while his wife toils over the washtub. One day, while digging for worms, Hutch uncovers a box containing $100,000 in bills, the loot of a bank robbed in the next town. Realizing that he cannot spend the money without arousing suspicion, Hutch resigns himself to taking a job for cover. Accepting an offer from banker Hiram Joy to work his abandoned farm in exchange for a share of the land, Hutch finds himself successful and the farm prospering. Returning to retrieve his treasure, Hutch is sickened when he finds the box gone and in its place a note from the robber. However, Hutch makes an abrupt recovery when he is offered $10,000 for his share of the farm, an offer that forces him to realize that he has become a self-made man.