Ebenezer Goodly, Professor of Anatomy, conducts an academy for young ladies. He and his wife, two daughters and sister-in-law, are looking forward to a long-promised visit from the Professor's brother, the Bishop of Timbuctoo. It is thirty years since the Professor has seen his brother, and none of the family has met him. Secretly, however, the Bishop has been making love, by letter, to Alvina, the Professor's thin and homely sister-in-law. Cissy Vandergould, an heiress, comes as a pupil to the academy and on the train has encountered Jones, a wide-a-wake travelling salesman, who deals in Bibles and playing cards, and they have been immediately and mutually attracted. The Professor's youngest daughter, Marjorie, is engaged to Dick Heatherly, who is supposed to be a model young man. When leaving the Professor's house, however, he drops a card of admission to a prize fight. The professor finds it and accuses him.