tillie winterbottom (alison skipworth) has just lost her waterfront saloon in shanghai, china in a dice game, and her ex-husband gus (w.c. fields) is on trial for murder in lone gulch, alaska, when they each receive word that tillie's brother has died. gus escapes and the two reunite in seattle, then head for danville to investigate the dead man's estate and the possibility of an inheritance.