When a pair of trusting parents put their ten-year-old son Johnny (John White) in charge of the family bloodhound Clyde for the day in hopes of instilling their boy with a sense of responsibility, their plan goes hilariously awry as the escape of the family's pet bird Trixie sparks a desperate race to recover the family pet before the parents get home from work. As Johnny and Clyde scour the city in search of their feathered friend, their search is complicated by a variety of unsavory characters before they are arrested in suspicion of involvement in a nationwide rash of car-thefts. Only when the unlikely pair are finally able to put their heads together will they be able to convince the authorities of their innocence and get Trixie back into her cage before the clock strikes five and mom and dad get back from work.