Hector Hardscrabble, a retired business man and a hard-fisted old curmudgeon, who hates the world, is the star boarder at a country boarding-house. The landlady adores him, and the hope of her life is to become his wife. But he detests her, although he gets the tender cuts of meat and the largest portions. One day she buys a lottery ticket and wins the capital prize of $25,000. The star boarder hears of it, and suppressing the news, he hastily marries her, only to find that she, thinking the ticket valueless, has given it to the Swedish servant girl, whom the old man hates, but in order to get the prize, he adopts her, only to find that she gave the ticket to Heinie, a lubberly butcher boy whom the old man also hates. He asks Heinie if he has the ticket, and receiving a reply in the affirmative, he adopts him, and they hurry to Heinie's attic after the ticket, only to find that it has been devoured by mice. The old man faints, but is restored to consciousness by his new family, who swear they will never desert him.
—Moving Picture World synopsis