After backing over a police motorcycle, Axel and Elmer are fined $100 and given 48 hours to come up with the money or go to jail. Knowing nothing about plumbing, they answer Mr. Skunkem's ad for plumber's assistants, and are sent to the Dinwitty estate to recover a diamond ring from a drain pipe. In due course they destroy the bathroom, and switch the gas and water lines, disrupting Mrs. Dinwitty's bridge party, Vanillia's dinner preparation, and the gardener's lawn watering.