Father Is a Bachelor

Carefree vagabond Johnny Rutledge lives in a small town after his medicine-show employer and friend, Professor Mordecai Ford, is arrested. The arrest unsettles Johnny's easygoing life and foreshadows the responsibility he's about to stumble into. The stage is set for his unlikely role in the lives of a brave, growing brood.

Johnny befriends May Chalotte and her older brothers January (Jan), February (Feb), and the twins March and April. He forms a protective bond with them as they navigate poverty and uncertain guardianship. This budding friendship pulls Johnny toward a guardian role he had vowed to avoid.

Jan had learned six months earlier that their parents died in a riverboat accident, a fact he kept secret (shared only with February). Johnny soon learns of the children's fragile past and the risk that they could be sent to an orphanage if a guardian is not found.

Although he stubbornly opposes responsibility, Johnny gradually becomes their 'uncle' and caretaker. He takes on work to support them—working on a farm during the week and singing and waiting tables on Sundays in Jericho Schlosser's restaurant—to keep the family together.

Prudence Millett, daughter of the local judge, visits to inquire why the boys are not in school. To avoid exposing the guardianship arrangement, Johnny is forced to claim he is their uncle. The encounter plants the seeds of a romance that will complicate his reluctance to settle down.

A romance begins to bloom between Johnny and Prudence, despite his strong aversion to being tied down. Johnny also recalls his own failed dreams—half-ownership of a paper mill that collapsed when his partner absconded with the funds—adding gravity to his fear of commitment.

Wealthy, disapproving Gilland Sr. orders Johnny to keep his disreputable children away from Gilland's son, leading to a scuffle and Johnny's arrest. Prudence posts his bond, but his troubles aren't over, as a sharper challenge looms.

Plato Cassin, Gilland's lawyer, uncovers the children's past and uses it to blackmail Johnny into agreeing to marry one of Gilland's older spinster sisters, Genevieve or Adelaide. Adelaide wins a game of quoits for the privilege.

Plato convinces Prudence that Johnny was using the children to court her, poisoning her trust in him. Johnny works to clear his name as he also fights to protect the kids from losing their only semblance of family.

Thinking his only option is to disappear with Professor Ford, Johnny decides to run away. May overhears this and invites townspeople to her birthday party the next day, intending it to be a going-away party for Johnny and a chance to say goodbye.

Meanwhile, Johnny dissuades Gilland's young son from running away himself, showing that his commitment to the kids is deeper than his aversion to responsibility. The moment reinforces the fragile balance between romance and family loyalty.

At May's birthday party, Gilland drops the charges and goodwill returns. May asks Prudence to be her aunt, and Prudence agrees, clearing the way for a future with Johnny. Johnny tells Adelaide that he loves Prudence; the two women gamble for him, with Professor Ford presenting what they believe to be Johnny's two-headed coin. It turns out to be a regular coin, Prudence wins the toss, and Professor Ford leaves town, leaving Johnny with his new family.