Summary
In a briny microcosm where cucumbers ascend to capitalist relics, two monomaniacal matriarchs—Mrs. Winkle, velvet-gloved but venomous, and Andrew Slocum, a self-coronated tsar of brine—wage a war of corrosive ambition inside clattering factories whose chimneys perfume the sky with dill and resentment. Into this crucible of vinegar vapors young Andy Slocum is dispatched, a reluctant spy cloaked in naïveté, only to be devoured by the gravitational pull of Matilda Winkle’s ironic smile; together they mutate into fugitive lovers, their elopement a sabotage more devastating than dynamite. While safes detonate and ledgers vanish, an absurdom of mistaken identities erupts: Slocum père, stripped to the epidermis and swaddled in window drapery, hurtles through Main Street protesting his own sovereignty while his heir—now complicit in patricide by denial—watches the pickle dynasty dissolve into public ridicule. Yet when the ink of enmity finally dries, the rivals discover that merger, like fermentation, is merely betrayal left to mellow; the last reel crowns a joint venture baptised in smoke, brine, and the acrid aftertaste of forgiveness.
The tale is hung upon the rivalry of Mrs. Winkle and Slocum, each the owner of a pickle factory. Some of the most unusual and humorous situations arise. Andrew Slocum sends Andy, his son, to Winkle's factory to spy on the latter's secrets. Many who have been buying the Winkle pickles are taken ill. Mrs. Winkle suggests a partnership. Winkle answers her scornfully. She enters Slocum's office and finds out his secrets. One night she blows up his safe and escapes with the formulas. Meantime Andy has confessed his real name to Matilda. They elope. Mrs. Winkle finds Matilda's note. She decides to take back the secret papers. But John Heaps has already stolen them. She learns that Slocum has gone to Shreveport. While Slocum is being engaged with his bath a thief steals his clothes. Wrapped in the curtains he rushes downstairs. The constable is called. He protests that he is Andrew Slocum, "the pickle king." Andy denies knowing him. Andy and Matilda then hurry to the station. Mrs. Winkle arrives and identifies Slocum. Andy and Matilda meet Heaps. Mrs. Winkle and Slocum follow. They turn Heaps over to the constable and recover the formulas. Now they are making pickles under the name of "The Slocum Company, Inc."
