After attending a hypnotic exhibition in his home town and witnessing the marvelous powers of the professor, Jones leaves the ball thoroughly imbued with the idea that he could be a hypnotist himself without much trouble. He determines to try it, studies at home, and very much to the amusement of his household, attempts demonstrations upon the cat, the dog and even the chickens, with, of course, no result, except creating laughter among those watching him. Troubles camp on his trail when he attempts to practice on human beings. His beloved wife finds him stroking his stenographer's face in an endeavor to hypnotize her, and misconstruing it, makes things hum for a while. Next he tries his powers on a bold, bad book agent, and for once, the latter is actually frightened out of a sale. On the family's Sunday picnic he has an excellent opportunity to practice hypnotism, and at the same time make a hero of himself, but when he stares into the mild face of the wandering cow and makes passes before her, the animal lowers her head and goes for him. He dodges and Mrs. Cow gallops right through the middle of the lunch carefully spread on the grass. Finally Jones lands in jail on the charge of flirting. With the Magistrate's assistance, Mrs. Jones makes her husband resolve to leave psychological phenomena alone.