Hot Water

Balking at the fact of his best friend about to get married, a young man literally runs into his future wife on his way to that friend's wedding. Although he loves his wife, the husband doesn't much like having to deal with his in-laws: his controlling and judgmental mother-in-law Winnifred Ward Stokes; his shiftless and lazy older brother-in-law Charley Stokes; and his mischievous adolescent brother-in-law Bobby Stokes. He is also a bit harried by his wife's requests, one such incident which has him carrying a large load of groceries, including a live turkey, home on the streetcar, much to his and the other passengers' chagrin. However, his streetcar days may be behind him as he has just purchased a new automobile for their household, a Butterfly Six. The inaugural drive in the car is intruded upon by his in-laws, which leads to an adventure-filled drive on the streets and other less-driven places of their town. The result of the drive leads to a friend advising him to play hardball with his mother-in-law to mind her own business concerning their affairs, that hardball approach which he doesn't think he has the nerve to do. The measure he takes to get up the nerve may make matters even worse, most specifically for him, also as all the events of the day start to pile up on him.