During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnny Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.

The illiterate daughter of a drunken, nasty sea captain falls in love with a tugboat pilot. Her father disapproves of the relationship, and is determined to do everything he can to break it up.

The Jazz Age rages in this comedy film starring Viola Dana as the madcap title character madly dashing through a series of adventures.