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Judy Bernly is forced to find work after her husband, Dick, runs off with his secretary. She finds employment as a secretary at Consolidated Companies. Her opportunistic boss, Franklin Hart, Jr., exploits and mistreats his female subordinates with backstabbing and sexist remarks; he takes credit for ideas from his senior office supervisor Violet Newstead, cruelly yells at and threatens to fire Judy on her first day after an equipment malfunction, and sexually harasses Doralee Rhodes, his secretary, spreading rumors about an affair that never happened.

Violet discovers that a promotion she was hoping to receive was instead given to a man because of sexist hiring practices and confronts Hart about it. Doralee likewise takes Hart to task over the rumors he has been spreading. After one of Judy's co-workers is fired by Hart due to an unfair workplace policy, Judy joins the two women in storming out of the office and drowning their sorrows at the local bar. The three of them bond over fantasies of getting revenge on Mr. Hart. The following day, Hart hits his head when he falls out of his desk chair. Violet, mistakenly thinking he is being taken to the hospital because of rat poison that she'd accidentally spiked his coffee with, rushes to the hospital with Judy and Doralee. They mistake a dead police witness for their boss and steal the body to prevent an autopsy before smuggling it back into the hospital when they discover they've stolen the wrong body.

Hart turns up alive the next morning, much to the shock of Violet, Doralee, and Judy. Hearing word of their shenanigans through his executive assistant, Roz Keith, he demands that Doralee spend the night at his house, threatening to have all three of them prosecuted for attempted murder. They kidnap him and, upon bringing him to his Tudor-style mansion, discover he has been involved in an embezzlement scheme. They must keep Hart tied up at home while they collect evidence on it to blackmail him into silence. The women use Hart's absence to effect numerous changes around the office in his name, including flexible work hours, equal pay for male and female employees, a job-sharing program, and an onsite daycare center for employees with children. Hart is so disliked around the office by male and female employees alike that the only person to question Hart's absence is his executive assistant, whom Violet sends away to Paris for a multi-week language training seminar.

Judy's ex-husband, Dick, comes to ask her to take him back. However, he discovers Hart tied up and jumps to the wrong conclusion about Judy, leading her to shed her naive ways and throw him out. Hart manages to secretly break free and undo the embezzlement, eliminating the leverage that the three women had over him and giving him the upper hand to prosecute them. Although Hart is appalled by the changes that have been made in his absence, an unexpected visit from company chairman Russell Tinsworthy reveals that these changes have led to substantial increases in productivity. Tinsworthy is so impressed that he recruits Hart to work at Consolidated's Brazilian operation for the next few years. A graphic reveals that Violet is later promoted to Hart's job, Judy falls in love with and marries a Xerox representative, Doralee quits Consolidated to become a country and western singer, and Hart is abducted in the Brazilian jungle and never heard from again.

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