Dan McGuire, a hod carrier, in addition to bearing burdens by day, has ambitions in his dreams when he naps at noon time. In the realm of dreams, Jason Cox, a coon mortar-mixer, and Morris Levey, timekeeper, become fabulous personalities. McGuire snores a top note, indicating that his uncle in Ireland has left him a million, and Morrie Levey becomes his banker, the custodian of this nest-egg. He moves his wife and their frowsy kidlets from his shanty in Coon Town and installs them in a palatial home with an entourage that includes a lackey who is always "doing things" to a fair McGuire, in the form of brushing his clothes, snatching tools from his hand at the table, preventing him from becoming a sword-swallower, or otherwise making a mark of himself by droll dressing. McGuire becomes the political "boss" in the fourth ward and Mrs. McGuire makes a bold break in society. McGuire, used to plain "suds," becomes very much mixed with fancy drinks, Mrs. McGuire, in order to break her husband of the fancy drink habit, assumes inebriety herself, and things come to a terrific head-on climax in a big fourth ward social function when someone drops a brick on McGuire's head, which brings him to a realizing sense that he has not a million, but it is time for him to fill his hod, and climb skyward.