With her precocious and always hungry adolescent son Harold in tow, diminutive but pushy Mrs. Harriet Hemingway is one of several people in the employment agency office looking for a job. Despite the poor odds, it is in part her pushiness that lands her a job as cook for Dr. Foster. When Mrs. Hemingway and Harold arrive at Dr. Foster's office, they mistake Gunner, a burglar, for Dr. Foster, who Gunner and his accomplice Soupy have just tied up and hidden away in a closet. While Gunner tries to subdue Mrs. Hemingway, which she believes is a game, Soupy is trying to get the safe open under Harold's watchful eye. But are Gunner and Soupy any match for Mrs. Hemingway and Harold? And if she ever does meet Dr. Foster, the other question becomes, can she actually cook?