Alec Smart, who is engaged teaching in a prison, applies for the job of headmaster at a nearby public school to replace the previous headmaster who has been convicted of writing forged cheques and has just been sent to prison. Smart appeals to the Governor to write him a good reference which he pretends to. Afterwards he writes his real recommendation which is very negative about Smart's talents.
School headmaster Hay discovers that the father of one of his students is a thief. He devises a plan to thwart the jewel-robbing hoodlum, and returns to his blackboard in peace. Not much of a caper and not many laughs.