The family of ragpickers, of which Jimmie is the oldest son, is really a very happy group of individuals. The only beclouding circumstance is the regular Saturday spree of the father. Jimmie does his best to straighten up this one big fault, first by entreaty and then by the clever ruse of pretending to be intoxicated one Friday. The father is horror-stricken at the conduct of his son and goes to reprimand him, when the son reveals his soberness and succeeds in shaming his father into abstinence on Saturdays. Papa behaves all day, but on Sunday develops an irresistible thirst, and breaks into a run for the closest saloon, only to be restrained by Jimmie, the temperance reformer again, this time by the "saturated with water" cure.