Irish contractor McFadden and Scottish barber McTavish become fast friends, and McTavish's son Jock, meets and falls in love with McFadden's daughter Mary Ellen. McFadden, having increased his store of worldly goods, sends his daughter to a finishing school, to young Jock's dismay. McFadden also provokes frequent outbursts from McTavish, whose outlook on life is the antithesis of his own. McFadden's ambition to complete a flat building is well underway when he suddenly finds himself in financial straits; when McTavish secretly helps him out, all eventually works out well for the friends and the young lovers.