The protagonist of this comedic novel by P.G. Wodehouse is Reggie Swithin, who has recently inherited the title of Earl of Havershot. His Aunt Clara implores him, as head of the family, to intervene with his cousin Eggy, bon vivant (and heavy drinker) who has been living it up in California and who has gotten himself engaged to a woman whom Clara suspects is a gold-digger. Reggie travels to America and then heads for Los Angeles California to try to rein in Eggy. On the train he meets well-known actress April June and falls head-over-heels for her seemingly down to earth sweetness: "Money and fame mean nothing to me, Lord Havershot."
Once in Hollywood, Reggie spends a lot of time with April June, but does manage to run into his cousin Eggy. To his shock, he finds that the girl to whom Eggy is engaged is his own former fiancee Ann Bannister; they broke it off after a fight and Ann returned to the States where she currently works as a caregiver for child movie star Joey Cooley, who is at present starring in a film with April June. Speaking of April, Reggie is so infatuated with her that he starts to propose, only to be stopped by dreadful tooth pain. In need of having it pulled, he makes an appointment with a local dentist only to find the office surrounded by reporters when he arrives. It turns out that Joey Cooley is also there to have a tooth removed by another dentist in the office. The Earl and the child star meet in the waiting room and strike up a conversation, of sorts. It turns out that Joey hates life in Hollywood; he wants to go home and live a normal life with his mother in Ohio. Instead, he is reluctantly under the guardianship of movie mogul T.P. Brinkmeyer and his sister, whom Joey hates. He tells Reggie darkly that he is keeping a list of people- the Brinkmeyers, various directors, producers, and actors- who he is going to "poke in the snoot" once he is big enough to do so.
Will Reggie/Joey escape from the kidnappers? Will Joey/Reggie get thrown in jail for assault? Will they manage to get back into their own bodies? Will Reggie let Ann throw herself away on Eggy? This being Wodehouse, the resolutions to these questions are amusing, remarkably silly fun.