When Chip adopts a Beatle-style, shoulder length haircut, the other members of the family feel that Steve should lay down the law to the long-haired one, but he and his associate consult a company psychologist for a solution. Steve decides not to be a strict father but to give the boy more attention, without affect.

Chip demands a jury trial after he borrows four cents from a pile of brother Ernie's pennies and Ernie accuses him of taking a valuable penny from his coin collection. Finally Chip accepts Ernie's challenge to stand trial in a court composed of their friends.

Steve Douglas takes his family to his birthplace of Bedford Springs. He tries to locate his 1940 fiancee Ellen, married and still living in town, but he is disenchanted by the changes in her. Still pretty, she lives with her obnoxious husband and ill-mannered children.