The family Pont-Biquet is composed as follows: father, the judge, afflicted by deafness; authoritarian and irascible mother; funny son-in-law; an ingenious son who has a mistress.
Greed, ambition and hunger-for-power drive John Hart, a New-York-City stock-market broker, into crooked dealings and deception, but he doesn't realize that those he ruined will seek vengeance.
Adalbert "Mussu" Koikkalainen inherits 9,000 marks from his uncle. To buy a milk shop, Koikkalainen needs another thousand marks and work experience, so he applies for a job at the department store Sampo, where he is hired as a scapegoat to receive customer complaints.
Swifty is framed for the murder of Alec MeNiel by the Lawyer Cheevers and the stepson Price. Then they incite the locals to form a lynch mob, but Swifty has an unexpected ally in the Sheriff who knows Price was after his stepfather's land.