Raffles is an English gentleman with a secret life—he is the notorious jewel thief known as "The Amateur Cracksman." While sailing from India to England accompanied by his friend, Bunny Manners, it is rumored that the infamous cracksman is aboard ship. Raffles warns a lady passenger to keep an eye on her necklace, which is stolen soon afterward. Although a search reveals no evidence, the necklace is returned upon reaching London.

The film opens near a subway terminal from which Buster Keaton emerges. He finds people gambling in a house with lots of money. He tries to scare them with the cutout of a poster with a man holding gun. He puts the cutout at the window and says, "Raise your hands in air". But soon they find out when a drunk man falls over the cutout and Buster has to run.
Next, he mistakenly enters a house thinking that its his own house. Inside the house, he sees a man and a woman kissing. He takes her for his wife, gets red hot angry and shoots them both, later to realize his mistake.
He goes to his own house this time to find his irritating wife. Some object hits his yelling wife and she faints. A passing police officer knocks at the door after hearing her scream. Buster saves himself by playing music on gramophone and pretending to dance with his fainted wife. As soon as the officer leaves, he lets the fainted wife fall down and looks out of the window. He discovers a pretty but married neighbor (Bonnie Hill), quickly wears good clothes and takes flowers to her where she imagines he looks like Erich von Stroheim. The husband of this pretty neighbor comes back and Buster has to run. The rest of the movie is filled with funny situations of him chasing after that pretty neighbor. In the end, he wakes up in the front row of a film theater to realize that it was all a dream.