Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town

At home, Pa receives a telegram announcing he has won another jingle-writing contest from the Bubble-Ola Company. The prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City. Ma frets about leaving the kids behind and wonders if they can afford to go without someone to look after them.

Ma makes clear they cannot go because there is no one to look after the children. The lure of the trip clashes with the practical needs of the family, creating tension at the kitchen table.

Fleeing bank robber Shotgun Munger crashes the farm and convinces Pa that he is an eccentric poet named Mr. Jones. He offers Pa the chance to stay and watch the kids in exchange for delivering a bag to his brother Louie in New York.

Ma and Pa board a train to New York City, where their son Tom and daughter-in-law Kim live while Tom pursues his incubator project. Pa agrees to the arrangement and pretends to stay in the city as Mr. Jones while keeping the family safe.

In New York, the Kettles check into the Waldorf Astoria and discover that the bag containing $100,000 from the bank robbery is missing. The bag was not with their luggage when they checked in, having been stolen during their station stop.

Pa buys several new bags to give to Louie, but each one is empty and stolen by Louie’s confederates who suspect Pa is part of the plan. The series of bag-swaps deepens the confusion and fuels the gang’s suspicion.

Pa arranges to meet Louie by the monkey cage at the Central Park Zoo, bringing yet another bag as planned. Tension mounts as the criminals and the police converge on the scene.

Pa is mistaken by the police for a maniac poisoning the zoo’s monkeys and is arrested. Tom persuades the officers of Pa’s innocence and begins helping unravel the mystery of the bags and the Mr. Jones disguise.

Tom works with the police to identify the true mastermind behind the disguises and locate the missing bag. Their investigation links the Mr. Jones persona to the Kettles and the bag-swapping plot.

The missing bag is discovered in the luggage of a wealthy investor who invites the Kettles to his home for a party. The police round up the gang and seize the bag as crucial evidence.

The investor makes a deal with Tom to finance his incubator project, turning a tense encounter into a potential breakthrough for the family’s business hopes.

The Kettles return home to find the harried 'Jones' has been overwhelmed by 14 wild Kettle children, hogtied in a cops-and-robbers game, and turned over to police rushing to the house. The family ends up safely back together amid the chaos.