Everyone thinks that Tecumsah Pruitt is a rich miser.  He gives good investment advice to many people in town and everyone assume his acumen has made him rich.  His son believes his miserly father is unfairly denying him and his mother the good life.  He finally imprisons him father in the cellar until he hands over some money.  However, he finds out that his father actually never had the money to invest and is as poor as his lifestyle suggests.