Samson Brown is a lazy and shiftless husband who lets his wife, Hannah, support the family. He is constantly insulted and annoyed by his in-laws, who live with them, and finally takes off for points unknown. At home, life goes on as usual with the exception of a former suitor who shows up to court Hannah when it is believed Samson is dead. While wandering around the desert Samson discovers a valuable radium deposit. The now-rich Samson plans to return home and sort out the family matters but first he buys a nightclub.
Jerry Willard, a clerk in a publishing house who is possessed of a massive inferiority complex, is fired from his job and, on the way out of the office, is mistaken for the boss, Watson, by Anne Rogers, the daughter of an author.
Clean-cut Hugh Carver, a promising freshman, arrives at Sanford College with lofty ideals. His focus on academics and sports is quickly derailed when he falls for popular flapper Cynthia Day and her modern, carefree attitude plus—as the title suggests—her bold red lips.
Glenn Higgins and Patsy Jones are a song-and-dance team traveling the vaudeville circuit across the United States, and land in a Kentucky tank-town filled with sharpies and wise-guys , wearing spats and carrying canes, who have reasons for wanting a horse named "Hot Heels, not to win the race he is scheduled to run in.
Tex arrives on the Parker ranch on Christman eve and is given the job of being Santa Claus. Also dressed as Santa Claus, Blackie robs Parker and kills a man.
The feisty boss of a chain of cafes wants to push the youngest of her daughters off on a husband, who would be well-suited to take over the business one day.
