Bernard Chanticleer, called "Big Boy" by his parents, is 19 but still lives with his overbearing, clinging mother and his commanding, disapproving father, who is Curator of incunable at the New York Public Library. Bernard also works as a low-level assistant at the library, where his father is constantly monitoring and admonishing him. His father decides it's time he grew up and moved out of the family home in Great Neck, New York and into his own Manhattan apartment. His mother is not happy about letting him go, but acquiesces to her husband and arranges for Bernard to live in a boarding house run by nosy, prudish Miss Nora Thing. Miss Thing inherited the building on the condition that her late brother's aggressive pet rooster be allowed to occupy the fifth floor, which Bernard must pass to get to his room. Miss Thing reassures Bernard's mother that the rooster only attacks girls, especially young pretty girls, to which Bernard's mother responds that her son isn't interested in girls yet, but arranges that Miss Thing will spy on Bernard and report any "female" activity. Bernard's mother also constantly mails locks of her hair to Bernard at his new residence.