Helen Corning, a rich "Yankee" widow's daughter, antagonizes her Southern neighbors when she speeds in her roadster. After she causes Brett Page's stalled Ford to overturn, Helen rams Judge Carroll's wagon, upsetting his eggs which fly into his whiskers. Furious, the Judge sends Helen to jail for thirty days. Brett, taking advantage of the town's ancient law that allows townspeople to hire prisoners for twenty cents per day, takes the uncooperative Helen into his home to cook and clean. Learning to respect Brett who, she discovers, is an affluent author, Helen resists her mother's efforts to get her released so that she can marry the one hundred and fifteen pound Count Dronsky. After Mrs. Corning and Dronsky hire "Hot Stove" Kelly to break Helen out and take her across state lines, Helen runs Kelly's car into Brett's bungalow. Brett thrashes Kelly, and while Mrs. Corning and Dronsky pursue, he and Helen are married in the car, by a judge riding on the hood.