When Widow Jenkins publishes the news that she has been left a valuable estate and other properties, including a grocery store, all the eligible men of the neighborhood seek to win her hand. The most persistent of her admirers is Alkali Ike, who absolutely refuses to remove himself from her immediate vicinity and guards her so well that none of the other suitors are given a fair opportunity to propose. After many vain efforts to gain Mrs. Jenkins' consent to marry, Alkali evolves a wonderful scheme. Not only is the widow a grocer, but she is an agent of Uncle Sam in the capacity of the postmistress of Snakeville, so Alkali addresses a letter to himself in which is stated that his grandfather has died and left him a fortune. His surmise that the widow will open the letter proves correct and Mrs. Jenkins now readily consents to marry Alkali. They are hardly more than safely tied when a pretty young woman steps into the store and asks for Alkali, presenting him with a letter which reads that if he marry the young lady, his cousin, he will receive half her fortune of $200,000. This is more than Alkali can stand and he collapses.