When Pa Kettle (Percy Kilbride) wins a trip to New York City, he and Ma (Marjorie Main) need a babysitter for their 15 kids. Fugitive Shotgun Mike Munger (Charles McGraw), pretending to be a poet, offers to take care of the kids if the naive Kettles will drop off a package for him in New York. As Munger attempts to control the rambunctious brood, his partner, Little Joe (Jim Backus), repeatedly tries to get Ma and Pa to give up the package, containing the loot from their most recent robbery.