Bank clerk John Hart is about to marry Mary Kelly, but she insists that before that happens he must grow a mustache. The idea of that shakes him up so much that he gets distracted at work, comes up short in his accounts and gets fired. Unable to find another job, he begins to work as an extra at a nearby film studio to earn money. One day the leading man of a picture John is working on gets into an argument with the director and storms off the set. Angered, the director sees John and, deciding that he'll show his arrogant star that he can make a movie idol out of just about anybody, picks John to replace him. As it turns out, John has a real talent for acting and before he knows it he becomes a star. Unfortunately, "stardom" isn't what John thought it would be.

The Ragged Earl was produced by Popular Plays and Players, a New York-based firm specializing in five-reel theatrical adaptations. Repeating his stage role, Andrew Mack essays the title character, a brawling Irish boy of a few centuries back. While swashbuckling his way through the Auld Sod, the Ragged Earl meets the aristocratic Kathleen Fitzmorris (Ormi Hawley), who is disguised as a boy to escape an arranged marriage with the wealthy but decrepit Lord Wildbrook (Edward Peil Sr.). Entering into the spirit of things, our hero disguises himself as Wildbrook, escorts Kathleen back home, and marries her himself, right under the noses of her unsuspecting parents.

The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants go to dream, and that if their dreams are disturbed, it will bring down disaster on us all. The Aborigines' belief is not shared by a giant mining company, which wants to tear open the soil and search for uranium.