Struggling Tyneside barber Will Kobling (Richardson) is in financial trouble. One evening, opportunistically and on impulse, he steals £100 from a local factory where a window has been accidentally left open. He hopes the money will represent a new start for him and wife Kit (Wynyard). His hopes are soon dashed when Kit confesses to being heavily in debt to local draper Pilleger (Henry Oscar), who has been pressuring her to pay up. Most of the stolen cash has to go on settling Kit's debt.