The Riot Act

Katie Delaney, an upright, hard-working widow, struggles to keep her three grown sons from falling into the clutches of "designing women." The sons, all members of the New York City police force, are far from pleased by this parental tyranny, but filial duty (and their mother's good cooking) conspire to keep them in line—at least to outward appearances. But natural impulses and the urgings of their various fiancees begin to tell. It turns out that one son has already married his sweetheart in a secret, civil ceremony, and while he has been fearful of revealing this fact to his rigidly Catholic mother, his wife's approaching motherhood soon forces the issue. When the truth is known Katie orders her son from the house and, despite the fact that her first grandchild is born soon after, refuses to acknowledge his existence. Before long another of the impatient girls threatens to accept a rival proposal and, to add to the growing confusion, a Puerto Rican urchin becomes embroiled in Katie's increasingly tangled affairs. Despite her dislike for his kind Katie is drawn to the boy, and in her zeal to help him soon finds herself of all things, in trouble with the police. For the widow of a policeman this is a disturbing turn of events, but beneficial too in the happy transformation it works in Katie. She adopts the boy, forgives her son and starts life over with a lighter heart.