In 1901, Mrs. Wiggs and her children are facing
eviction, left destitute when Mr. Wiggs departed many years ago to search for gold in the
Klondike. The family owns the shack, but it has a mortgage of $25 and the evil lender is threatening them. Mrs. Wiggs is a laundress who cannot save money because of her charity toward others, often animals. Her oldest son James has worked hard all his life but now is seriously ill with
tuberculosis. The little girls are all named after continents: Europena, Asia and Australia. The second-oldest boy Billy finds a
spavined and dying horse that he brings home. The family nurses the horse back to reasonable health, naming it Cuba. Neighbor Tabitha Hazy seeks a husband and begins a subscription to "The Matrimonial Guide", a type of dating service. Alice, a wealthy girl volunteer social worker, brings the family a feast of a
Thanksgiving dinner. Her fiancé Mr. Bob, the town newspaper editor, takes Jimmy to a hospital. Billy makes enough money to take the family to a
vaudeville variety show, and Mrs. Wiggs describes it all to Jimmy as he dies. She places an advertisement in national newspapers directed to her husband and saying that Jimmy is dead and that Mr. Wiggs must come home. Tabitha has found a man whom she likes, but she fears he will not like her because she cannot cook. Mrs. Wiggs conspires with her to serve an exquisite dinner. When the man learns the truth, he refuses to marry her. In the midst of the household confusion, Mr. Wiggs arrives and sits quietly in a corner until he is noticed. He is secretly given enough money by Mr. Bob to pay the mortgage. ==Cast==