Arnie Cole shows his films wherever he can find places to do so, travelling with eternally harassed girlfriend Letty and projectionist Llewellyn, whose principal problem is remaining sober. When, thanks to Llewellyn, Arnie's hopes of establishing a permanent cinema go up in flames, all seems lost. Then, he meets Maud. Haughty and unprepossessing she may be, but she represents something that Arnie desparately needs if his dreams are ever to materialise: finance.
Marriage means one thing for Arnie: he can pursue his plan to produce his own films in his own studio. He finds that if you want to be a star you've also got to have his satellites - so joining comedian Corky Brown are Corky's manager and would-be director Max, wife Cora, budding cameraman Percy Bowden, and precocious child star Dotty Brewer and her family, who also find their way onto Arnie's payroll...
Arnie isn't finding it easy to get his film poroduction plans under way and, while marriage to Maud promises to boost his meagre finances, her pregnancy and marriage to a man deemed to be her social inferior has met with family disapproval. Arnie's fighting spirit is undiminished and is gradually winning him Maud's respect.
Maud gives birth to a baby boy, and is touched that Arnie wholeheartedly accepts the child as his son, even claiming that he would like to extend their family - though she does wonder how he will ever find the time. Meanwhile, production is swinging ahead, costs are mounting and Arnie is searching for his old flame, Letty, Why?
'The Highwayman and the Lady', the picture being made with theatrical diva Gwendoline Harper, is making slow progress, thanks to Max Legendre's leisurely pace of directing. Both Maud and Llewellyn are horrified by Arnie's attempts to trace Letty, little realising his real motive for doing so.
Nothing is going right for Arnie: disastrous events at a party held solely to impress banker Crane mean that this hope of raising money has gone; diva Gwen Harper walks out, Corky is drinking to excess, and Letty is furious when she discovers that there was, in fact, never a part in the film for her. Worse is to come with a fire in the studio, but Arnie finds one thing in his life brings him happiness; his marriage.