In a small town, an overheard conversation on a telephone party line results in gossip that causes a great deal of trouble for a young woman and a wealthy man.

Matthew Putnam is summoned back to his small hometown of Rockridge by his aged, bedridden aunt Nettie after seven years of enjoying himself in Europe, where he had been sent to study.

However, telephone eavesdroppers misinterpret the message and assume that Roy has gotten Marge pregnant and is trying to leave town without marrying her.

Mathilda is delighted at the ostensible scandal and bullies her husband Tom, the president of the Sherman Bank, into firing Marge.

Before things get totally out of hand, Matthew's aunt Nettie – who hadn't left bed the last fifteen years – shows up and gives the townsfolk a tongue-lashing for their malicious gossip by bringing up their own past misdeeds.