Hill wants to get people involved, and asks Mrs. Rose Rafferty (Patsy Kelly, in her final movie role) to handle the church's sinking fund, which consisted of $1,206 ($4,967 in 2022 dollars).

On his first Sunday, Hill learns from Mrs. Rafferty that her husband Delaney (Douglas Fowley) bet all the sinking fund money on a horse race.

She leads him to the bookie, hidden behind a dry-cleaning shop owned by Sam the Tailor (Carl Ballantine), and meets Harry the Hat (Alan Hale, Jr.), who recommends that Hill let the bet ride.

Then, two treasury agents for the US government arrive: Marvin Fogleman (Michael Constantine) and Tom Voohries (Steve Franken).

Five women from his congregation attempt to place bets in the company of the Treasury agents, but ending up in some kind of disastrously clumsy result.

The team changes tactics to try to go after the "bank" that the gangsters use, tailing the mob's deliverymen through town while Hill coordinates using a map at the church office.

Anne picks up two more presbytery representatives at the airport, Dr. Rheems (Ruth Buzzi) and Reverend Wainwright (Ivor Francis), but while bringing them to the church, she recognizes one of the mob's deliverymen and realizes she may be able to find the bank.

Walt Disney Productions purchased the rights to the 1968 novel, The North Avenue Irregulars: A Suburb Battles the Mafia, by Reverend Albert Fay Hill, the year after its publication, in 1969, and screenwriter Don Tait adapted the story in 1977.