A judge awards custody of a foster home-runaway black kid to Frank Murphy, a fat, middle-aged white bachelor cop. Lucas, the kid. is engagingly portrayed by a youngster named Tierre Turner. The policeman and the kid meet when the cop almost runs over the smart-mouthed youngster, and meet a second time when, after the kid steals a radio, the cop chases him and collapses with an asthma attack. The kid stays to help him and is collared. When they appear in court, the kid uses the cop's asthma for blackmail, forcing a leniency plea on his behalf — or else he will have the cop bounced from the force. Murphy makes so moving a plea for mercy that the court makes him the guardian of the kid — and his flea-bitten mutt.