 In 1928, Big Ed Hanley (Paul Douglas), boss of a gang of Chicago racketeers, has money and power, but he is bored. Watching some kids play in the park, he sees Ruth Manning (Jean Peters) and is interested at once. He tells her he has a couple of kids and gives her the job of taking care of them. He moves Mamie (Joan Davis) in as a housekeeper, but the best he can scrape up as a son is Harry, a pint-sized monster. A couple of henchmen sent by to rub Big Ed out by his rival, Pretty Willie (Cesar Romero), are relieved of their hardware by Quentin (Arthur Treacher), Ed s butler, and Bugs, his right-hand man. They march them downstairs, supposedly to drop in the river, but actually leave them in a very nice jail maintained by Ed for gangsters who drop by to rub him out. Ed s problems include keeping Ruth, who has begun to like him, from finding out about his activities, increasing his family and keeping uninvited guests from dropping by.