The brass band of the Northern town of Hechdyke travel south to London to compete in a national contest. In the capital Sam Small becomes mixed up in a series of adventures including a plot to steal Lady Heckdyke's pearls and the romantic relationship between Heckdyke's son and Small's cousin Betty. Mistakenly arrested for the theft of the pearls, Small has to race to reach The Crystal Palace in time for the competition.
To celebrate their Admiral's impending marriage, his men stage a variety performance. Meanwhile Joe Crabbs attempts to win back his girlfriend from the Navy's boxing champion.
Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden debating whether to eat an apple despite the serpent's warning. After their meal, they take a stroll through time. Along the way, they stop for musical interludes, including in the gardens of Emperor Nero of Rome circa 100 AD, in King Arthur's court, and at a beach resort in modern times.
The action takes place at Lombardy College, founded "to give the Indian nations of North America access to higher education". Little Black Cloud (Nat Pendleton) enrolls as "George Black". After being the subject of a hazing prank by football star Bob Hayner (Dick Baldwin), George decides he is too humiliated to stay at school. He first stops to get his ripped pants repaired and meets the Ritz Brothers who convince him to stay.
The film's plot is similar to the Warners release Double or Nothing (1936), where an actor (Dixon) gets knocked out and dreams of actors "doubled" by their actual stand-ins.
Young J. Quincy Pennant is a brilliant but absent minded scientist who has come up with an amazing theory. Unlike skip bombing, Pennant is experimenting with detonating explosives where the shock wave can be sent like a stone skipping over distances without hitting immediate targets, but able to destroy targets at a further distance away, even if they are behind walls. He is sent to a "powder town", a rapidly growing city being built around an arsenal and munitions factory where wartime population growth has brought in criminals, enemy spies and saboteurs.