Young boy Bill Peck adores his father and tries to be good, but the arrival of Bill's cousin Horace upsets Bill's plans. Horace's brattish ways result in Bill rather than Horace getting in trouble.

This portrayal of small town life before the War is based on a small boys determination to get to see the circus, over all obstacles. Escaped lions, lightheaded blackmail of his father, and playfully planting stolen papers on his sisters boyfriend are all in a days work for little Henry Peck.

Trouble-prone Billy Peck and his gang descend on a traveling circus that has just hit town, and before long their antics are causing the circus owner all kinds of problems.