Two college students, Bob McDonald and Arthur Hale, find themselves expelled after they are unable to pay their tuition. Desperate for money, the pair heads to Central Park and decides to auction off their services to the highest bidder. A wealthy young woman named Sally van Ranseleer places the winning bid—her last five dollars—to hire them to drive her and her dilapidated car from New York to Ohio. During the journey, Bob and Sally begin to develop feelings for each other, though Bob remains stubborn and flustered, insisting he doesn't need a "liability" like her. After a fight, Sally leaves Bob and returns to her wealthy family to marry her "dullard" fiancé, Freddie Miller. To force Bob into admitting his feelings, Sally's father announces her immediate marriage to Freddie. Learning of the wedding while working as a telephone lineman, Bob rushes to the estate. In a climactic moment, he cuts the power wires to the lights during the ceremony and elopes with Sally.