Tennessee and Chumley hear about the treasure of Jack the Joker hidden somewhere in the Megapolis Zoo, but Stanley Livingston does not allow digging on zoo grounds. They learn about compasses.

Tennessee and Chumley find a map that to a gold mine and turn to Phineas J. Whoopee to learn how to get there. They learn about gold.

During a heat wave in Megapolis, Tennessee and Chumley's plans to leave the zoo to get fans for the animals are repeatedly thwarted by Stanley Livingston and Flunky. Tennessee and Chumley recall the time they asked Phineas J. Whoopee about how helicopters work.

Tennessee's friend Freddy Cat inherits an oil field that is supposedly haunted, and Jerboa Jump tries to scare Freddy into selling him the land cheaply. They learn about oil drilling.

When Rocky Maninoff pulls off a bank robbery and escapes by airplane, the money falls into the Lost Mountains. Tennessee Tuxedo and Chumley answer his ad and are forced to parachute down to recover the stolen money, or else. They learn about parachuting.

Tennessee and Chumley start a laundry service in the Megapolis Zoo at the same time that Stanley Livingston and Flunky are assembling a tool shed.

Tennessee and Chumley become private detectives. Hotel manager Mr. Hothead hires them to deal with the robberies committed by Slippery Hood, who has eluded every hotel detective. In order to get a better stake-out on Slippery Hood's hotel room, Tennessee and Chumley turn to Phineas J. Whoopee, who tells them about telescopes.

Tennessee competes against Jerboa Jump in the finals of a bowling tournament. Jerboa tricks Tennessee into thinking that something is wrong with his eyes and gives him glasses made from the bottoms of glass bottles. Phineas J. Whoopee explains to Tennessee how the eyes work.

Tennessee and Chumley go into the movie-making business. They turn to Phineas J. Whoopee for advice on filmmaking.

Eager to cash in on the skiing craze, Tennessee and Chumley try various schemes to turn the hill at the zoo into a ski slope.

Tennessee is convinced a radio quiz show is going to call him for an upcoming cruise prize, so he goes about trying to steal Stanley's radio and eventually learns how to make his own radio.

Chumley looks like a local millionaire. Tennessee has Chumley impersonate the moneyed one when Chumley gets amnesia and starts to think that he is the millionaire.

Tennessee and Chumley get jobs at Stonecutter's Jewelry Store. Mr. Stonecutter tells them that they must protect the diamonds or they will go to jail. Rocky Maninoff robs the store and hides out on a ship. While being pursued by the ship's crew, Tennessee and Chumley run into Phineas J. Whoopee, who tells them about diamonds.

When Tennessee and Chumley are ordered by Stanley Livingston to get back the rare coin with which they accidentally paid the paper boy, they trace the coin's path to a bakery and then to a cookie from that bakery that Chumley ate. How shall they recover the coin? Tennessee and Chumley turn to Phineas J. Whoopee, who tells them about x-rays.

A reporter from the Megapolis Tribune approaches Tennessee to ask him about his feuds with Jerboa Jump. Tennessee tells him about the feud between the Tennessees and the Jerboas, which old Phineas Whoopee was called in to resolve.

Tennessee is tired of eating fish all the time and wants to grow a vegetable garden, much to the objection of Stanley Livingston. Tennessee manages to get the Mayor's wife on his side, and Tennessee and Chumley ask Phineas J. Whoopee for advice on growing a vegetable garden.

Tennessee and Chumley get a platypus for a roommate and deny him access to the pool. When the platypus leaves the zoo and they are ordered by Stanley Livingston to get the platypus back, Tennessee and Chumley turn to Phineas J. Whoopee for help and learn that the platypus lives in Australia.

Tennessee and Chumley get jobs as police officers. They learn about being police officers.

Phineas J. Whoopee gives Tennessee and Chumley some advice on fitness when Jerboa Jump challenges Chumley to a boxing match against Tiger Tornado.

Tennessee and Chumley get involved with gangsters who pose as bankers, trying to get a stolen safe open, so they learn about locks.

Tennessee and Chumley try painting the Zoo, waste it all, learn about making paint, and do a beautiful job covering a building with clay. They learn about paint.

Upon escaping to the docks, Tennessee falls asleep and has a dream wherein he is the admiral of a ship ordered by the Queen to go after some pirates. They learn about navigation.

Tennessee and Chumley escape from the zoo in order to join the circus. They learn how a calliope works.