The seedy owner of a flea-bitten circus, Larson E. Whipsnade (W.C. Fields) will stop at nothing to arrange a marriage between his daughter Victoria (Constance Moore) and boring millionaire Richard Bel-Goodie (James Bush). So when Victoria declares she is in love with The Great Edgar (Edgar Bergen), Whipsnade cuts the penniless ventriloquist adrift in a hot-air balloon accompanied by his dummy (Charlie McCarthy). Arriving for a reception at the Bel-Goode mansion where he plays ping-pong and abuses his hosts, Whipsnade shows he is just getting started.