- A father takes his family for an outing, which turns out to be a ridiculous trial.
- Father takes his family for a drive in their falling-apart Model T Ford, gets in trouble in traffic, and spends the day on an excursion boat. As the boat is about to leave, he rushes ashore for cigarettes. As he returns the boat is leaving, but a fat lady has fallen forward with feet on the dock and hands on the deck so he is able rush aboard across her back.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
- Charlie, the father (Charles Chaplin) and his family are off for a rattling good time. Two children, a beautiful mother (Edna Purviance) and Charlie leave the house and enter their Model T Ford. Charlie attempts to start the car. It shimmers and shakes but the engine dies, every time Charlies tries to enter the driver seat. Turning the starting crank handle the opposite way causes smoke shoots out. Finally, a minor adjustment to the engine and they are on their way.
The family enters the ferry boat. Charlie carries one child under each arm because children in arms are free. They find their seats. Charlie leaves momentarily. In his absence, his seat is occupied by a large man (Tom Wilson) and his wife (Babe London). Charlie wedges his way in when he returns. He sticks the man with a pin to make room. Then Charlie leaves the boat again to buy cigarettes.
The captain calls all aboard and the boat starts to pull away from the pier. A heavy woman (Tom Wood) arrives just as the boat is depart and fires her baby carriage across the bow. She trips as she tries to board and stretches herself between the boat and the landing. When Charlie returns, he is able to walk across the woman's back to board the boat. The heavy set woman falls into the water. Charlie thinks it may be helpful to use a gaff pole to help her climb onto the boat. Finally, she is helped on board and the trip is underway.
A black band of ragtime musicians provides music. Several couples begin dancing. Charlie and his wife are among them. Dancing is a challenge as the boat tosses in the waves. Charlie and many others do not look like they are feeling too well overcome with seasickness. With rougher waters, the dance floor clears and many people cling to the edge of the boat. Charlie tries to find his balance on the dance floor alone. Eventually, Charlie finds a seat near the trombone player and has to navigate the trombone's slide continually. Charles, the trombone player and the drummer all are consumed with the same thought of seasickness. The trombone player is so ill his face turns white. Charlies seeks another location.
A vendor pressures Charlie to buy ham sandwiches, buttered popcorn, cigars or cigarettes. Charlie returns to his snoozing family and struggles to set up a deck chair. The fat couple who occupied the seat earlier are near. The fat man eats popcorn, feels ill and leaves. Frustrated, Charlie throws the deck chair overboard and seats himself next to the fat woman. She is also not feeling well and faints into Charlie's lap. Charlie props her up but succumbs to the seasickness can keels over face first into the woman's lap. A steward comes along and puts a blanket over Charlie and the woman. The man returns, bringing a drink for his wife. Charlie extends his arm from under the blanket. The man thinks he is holding his wife's hand as Charlies wave his rejection of the drink. When Charlie is discovered under the blanket, the man flings Charlie across the deck and a fight ensues. Charlie is choked repeatedly but is saved when the man runs across the deck to lean over the edge with sea sickness. Charlie finds this the ideal opportunity to kick the man's posterior. Then Charlie pulls him away and dominates the fight with the much larger man. The captain finally intercedes in the fight between the two very tired and seasick men. At the end of the cruise, the day trippers disembark. The large man Charlie was fighting has a black eye.
On the way home, the family encounters a hold up at the crossroads where a traffic officer directs traffic. When Charlie's Model T approaches the corner, Charlie fails to yield to the traffic cop's direction. The traffic officer politely asks Charlie to reverse back to the corner and wait. A woman pedestrian meets another lady and her husband crossing the street in front of Charlie's car. Charlie blows his horn repeatedly but they do not move. The short little man (Loyal Underwood) leans against Charlie's car tire. Charlie reverses the car and the man tumbles to the ground. Finally, the pedestrians retreat to the street corner. The man cusses out Charlie as a stupid ass. Charlie plugs his ears with his fingers.
Charlie again tries to proceed with his left turn. The traffic cop stops him again. This time he issues Charlie a citation. When Charlie backs his car to the corner, he bumps into a truck carrying a large box which tips over onto another vehicle with a well-dressed man inside. The traffic offer intervenes. The well-dressed man's car is allowed to proceed. The truck forced to back up.
As Charlie waits, men wheel a barrel of tar out in front of Charlie's car. When another car backs up, the barrel of hot tar in spilled in front of Charlie's car. Charlie pulls ahead and his car become stuck. Charlie cannot move ahead when the traffic officer signals him. A portly officer (Henry Bergman) approaches and clears the tar bucket and street workers from the scene. The officer is forced backward by another car reversing and gets his feet stuck in the tar. Now both Charlie's car and the officer are stuck in the tar. The traffic officer approaches to give Charlie yet another citation. The portly officer frees himself from the tar. In the process, he steps on a manhole cover behind the traffic officer and removes it. The traffic officer disappears down the manhole. The portly officer replaces the manhole cover and approaches Charlie. When Charlie notices him, he says "how you have changed." This results in a confrontation where Charlie is pulled from his car by the portly officer and tossed back into the tar. Charlie's feet are so embedded in the tar that he can lean forward without falling over much to the delight of the growing crowd of pedestrians. The portly officer tells him "you've been sticking around here long enough." As the altercation continues, the portly officer ends up with both feet and hands stuck in the tar. The traffic officer climbs out of the manhole and trips over the other officer. The traffic officer also ends up stuck in the tar. Charlie removes his shoes steps on the officer's hat and climbs down the officers back to free himself from the sticky situation. Charlie climbs back into his car, puts it in reverse, and drives around *the officers who are still stuck, one on top of the other. It is the end of a perfect day. 7*
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