Otto Finnegan, a bricklayer, receives a legacy of gold pieces. As the bank is closed he conceals the gold pieces in a hollowed brick and cements the opening. This he buries in a vacant lot. Two sons of a policeman, who have been reading of Captain Kidd's burled treasure, dig up the brick, and when surprised by the arrival of Finnegan, they hold him at bay with an old harmless pistol. A mason loading bricks from a pile in the same yard throws the "gold brick" in with the rest and before Finnegan can have the boys arrested it is built into the walls of a chicken house. His loitering about the place creates suspicion, and becoming desperate, he hires an automobile and drive it through the wall of the chicken house. The owner seizes one of the bricks and knocks him out with it, leaving the one with the cemented side laying on the ground. Finnegan is taken home insensible, and when seized with a chill his wife warms his feet with a hot brick, which happens to be the gold one. When he awakes and finds it he clasps his wife to his breast and tells her for the first time of his sudden rise to wealth.
—Moving Picture World synopsis