In London, rich, idle socialite Ernest Bliss feels out of sorts for no discernible reason. He visits Sir James Aldroyd, a doctor who, on the advice of his friend Lord Honiton, bluntly informs him that he is suffering from too much money and that he would be cured if he lived for a year on a few pounds per week. Bliss is so insulted that he makes a bet for an eye-popping £50,000 with the doctor: he can survive a full year by earning and living on pennies, never touching his inherited millions.
He rides the Underground to Stepney Green and rents a small attic room, where his landlady, Mrs. Heath, proves warm and understanding when he falls behind on the rent. Despite having no practical experience, Bliss convinces Mr. Masters to give him a job selling Alpha stoves. For three weeks he struggles to close a sale, and Frances Clayton, Masters' secretary, warns him that the company—one that Masters has poured his life savings into—could collapse. Taking a bold step, Bliss puts £500 of his own money into a publicity stunt: he offers free meals cooked on the stoves to the public. A wholesale buyer orders 100 stoves, with the potential to buy 40,000 a year if the trial proves successful. Masters is thrilled and offers Bliss a partnership, but Bliss chooses to resign instead, preferring to prove himself in other ways.
Bliss soon finds another job and takes Frances to dinner. She confesses that she, too, plans to leave Masters, as the partnership he promised would have included her as more than a secretary—perhaps a personal one.
One night, a medical emergency brings Sir James Aldroyd into Bliss’s orbit again, with a chauffeur-driven car at his disposal. The driver, Bliss, reveals his true identity only later, and it becomes clear that almost seven months have already passed on the wager.
Trouble resurfaces when Dorrington, an opportunistic rival, comes calling at 11 Regents Park Gate, flat 6. Dorrington has been forging Bliss’s signature and wants Bliss’s chauffeur to cash a £30,000 cheque in exchange for a share of Bliss’s fortune. Bliss retrieves blank pieces of paper from the safe to foil the plan, exposing his identity to Dorrington and his henchman in the process. A scuffle ensues, Dorrington slips away with a worthless envelope, and Bliss, though battered, is saved by his loyal valet, Clowes, who stumbles in drunk and knocks the henchman with a bottle. Bliss forgives Clowes for his mistake, recognizing the valet’s good intentions.
Frances eventually lands a job with Montague, but Montague makes it clear he expects more than a secretary. He tries to pressure Frances into something unscrupulous, and Bliss, who has already proven his resourcefulness, disables Montague’s car to prevent a shady rendezvous. Frances is later hired to accompany Bliss in his efforts to keep Montague from exploiting her, and when Masters dismisses Bliss, Bliss instead buys the company and replaces the unsupportive manager with Bill Bronson, a loyal employee who had stood up for the others.
With renewed confidence, Bliss wins Frances over and persuades her to marry him, but tragedy interrupts when Frances’s mother arrives with alarming news: Frances’s sister will die unless she is taken to a winter resort in Switzerland. Faced with this ultimatum, Frances contemplates marrying Masters for the money she needs, leaving Bliss in the dark. Bliss tracks her down, learns the truth behind her decision, and, in a heartfelt turn, helps resolve the crisis. He seizes the moment to repair what was broken and, ultimately, to marry Frances himself, proving that the lesson of a year on a meager income can coexist with a life of lasting love and partnership.
