Fresh out of the military, naïve, low-level aristocrat Stanley Windrush decides it's about time he found some work.

Having failed interviews for a number of minor executive posts at different firms, his uncle Bertram suggests he might like to come and work at his factory, Missile Ltd. However, uncle Bertie's offer is far from magnanimous. In league with a fellow businessman and proprietor of an otherwise rival company, Sidney De Vere Cox, he plans to engineer a strike, jeopardise a lucrative contract, and make thousands of pounds of profit by manipulating the contract around.

After some initial suspicion at the factory due to his well-spoken, educated nature Stanley is welcomed with open arms - not least by trade union representative Fred Kite, with whom he finds lodgings, who is pleased to have a man of education he can discuss matters of politics and socialism with.

Stanley quickly settles in to his role - and into the heart of Kite's daughter, Cynthia - but his slow uptake and general naïvety begin to cause ructions. Tricked into assisting a time-and-motions analyst with reassessing the business, he's soon caused a strike amidst management demands for reform of working practices.

Following a false start, things look to be going Bertie and Sidney's way. They've engineered the strike, sealed a deal with an important Arabic diplomat, and played the unions at their own foolhardiness. But they've reckoned without Stanley's well-to-do aunt, Dolly, and it's not long before the whole country is out on strike, whilst Stanley sees himself transformed into a hero!