For ten years, Elmer has been an office boy at the Daily Chronicle, hoping to be a reporter. On a day when all the reporters are elsewhere and a hot tip comes into the paper, the city editor reluctantly gives the story to Elmer: he's to follow a society dame, Mary Cristman, on a train trip to Reno where she'll file for divorce from a local racketeer. Traveling with his parrot Clarisse, Elmer seems doomed to blow the story. Will he get the scoop and a permanent job, or will he forever empty wastebaskets?