Lucretia Ward, or Aunt Crete to her family, lived with her sister and niece. As an older unmarried lady, she depended on family for room and board, and her family was more than willing to work her fingers to the bone to "provide for" her. Her sister Carrie had plenty of household work for Crete and niece Luella spent all her energy and a great deal of the family's modest resources to attempt to climb socially and marry well.

News arrived one day of the soon arrival of the only child of the remaining sister, a young man from out west, from whom the family had heard little over recent years. Assuming that the young man was a backwoods hick and would be an embarrassment to them, Carrie and Luella left a few days early for their trip to the shore in hopes of avoiding him, and left Crete with a long to-do list and orders to have it complete upon their return. Of course, Aunt Crete was not asked to go to the shore; her dumpy figure would embarrass them!

As it happened, Carrie and Luella passed a very handsome man at the train station as Luella was in a tirade. The man, the expected nephew Donald, later learned that the harsh voice belonged to his cousin when he answered the phone for Aunt Crete. Luella called with more orders for her hardworking aunt and Donald saw right away what Luella was like and what his aunt had to live with. He hatched a plan to take Aunt Crete on a well-deserved vacation to the shore, maybe staying at the same hotel. This backwoods cousin had struck gold out west and was free to do as he chose, and he chose to emancipate Aunt Crete from her cheerless, unappreciated life of servitude.