A down-on-his-luck man named Mack (Philip Anglim) takes refuge in an abandoned hotel and runs into alcoholic magician J.J. "Freddy" Fredericks (Eddie Bracken). Freddy can make anything appear, but it always turns out wrong: The drink is sour, the food tastes awful, a rocking chair rocks side to side instead of front to back. Mack believes that Freddy's alcoholism prevents him from making better things. Mack takes away Freddy's booze. But a guy suffering from the DTs will begin seeing things...