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The Pest is one of the seemingly endless Cinderella-type stories that comedienne Mabel Normand did for Goldwyn. This time around, her character, Jiggs, was switched at birth with another child, and as a result, she has grown up in a poor, abusive family. Jiggs charms her way into the affection of fatherly Judge Fisher (Alec B. Francis), and he invites her to attend a party being held by his daughter Blanche (Leota Lorraine). Blanche doesn't care for the interloper, so she tries to make her seem as ridiculous as possible. The humiliated Jiggs creates a ruckus, and when the judge and his secretary Giles (John Bowers) pull her from the melee, the judge sees a ring on her finger that brings up old memories. Blanche's fiancee Harland (Charles Girard) is plotting to have the judge murdered so he can take over his fortune, but Jiggs foils these plans. Meanwhile, the judge has discerned that Jiggs, and not Blanche, is actually his daughter, and Jiggs and Giles wind up together. Although this film was touted as Normand's return to the kind of comedy she did during her days with Mack Sennett, it was far more comedy-drama than it was slapstick.