Jack Straw falls in love with Ethel Parker Jennings, the daughter of a clerk. Because of an oil investment in California, the family suddenly becomes wealthy and they head out West. Along with being nouveau riche, Mrs. Jennings is also a nouveau snob; she rents an estate from Mrs. Wanley and then refuses to associate with her. Mrs. Wanley and her friend, Holland plot revenge. Straw has followed Ethel out West and gotten work as a waiter. Holland approaches him and asks him to pose as a nobleman as a hoax. He agrees and enters the Jennings' household as the Archduke of Pomerania. He and Ethel are given free reign to develop their romance before Mrs. Jennings discovers that he is merely Jack Straw. Straw is tossed out of the house, but it turns out that he really is the Archduke of Pomerania…
