In a thunderstorm, the tree in which Woody Woodpecker makes his home is struck by lightning and utterly destroyed. Completely dazed by his misfortune, Woody doesn’t know what to do or where to turn. Looking around, he sees a castle in the distance and starts toward it, the storm impeding his progress. Inside the castle, a crazy scientist is busily putting the finishing touches on a technical man with clawlike hands. This he terms a “mechanical chicken plucker.” Anything resembling a feather, the claw reaches out and plucks, even to the hairs on the professor’s mustache. The professor must find a chicken to test his invention. Just then, a loud knocking is heard, and the professor goes to the door. Through the peephole, he sees Woody. Being just what the professor needs, Woody is graciously invited in. After ensuring that all avenues of escape are completely blocked, the professor has Woody meet the mechanical chicken plucker, who immediately goes to work plucking out Woody’s tail feathers. Woody frantically runs away and hides first in a barrel, then in a suit of armor, all to no avail. The chicken pluckier keeps plucking. Woody then puts a large feather on the end of a pole and, in following it, the mechanical man falls down some stairs and breaks into many pieces. However, the professor electrically assembles it again, and again and again. Finally, Woody covers the professor first with glue and then with feathers and, as Woody escapes from the castle, the mechanical pluckier is in his glory plucking feathers from the man who invited him, but who finds out that he cannot control him.
