Parentless Betsy Brown (Shirley Temple) escapes orphanage life with the help of her uncle "Pop" Shea (Edward Ellis) and goes to live with him at the Hotel Variety, a boarding house he runs for performers. Betsy fits right in with the zany tenants, but the landlady, Sarah Wendling (Edna May Oliver), who lives just next door, wants to evict her noisy neighbors. When Betsy is then sent back to the orphanage, Sarah's nephew Roger (George Murphy) concocts a plan to rescue Betsy and the hotel.