After wrecking Popeye's ship and stealing away Olive Oyl, hero of Arabic legend Sindbad decides to test him and his ever-resilient new rival's strength in order to prove their supremacy as the "most remarkable, extraordinary fella" of Sindbad's menagerie island.
Popeye the Sailor, accompanied by Olive Oyl and Wimpy, is dispatched to stop the dreaded bandit Abu Hassan and his force of forty thieves.
Popeye, Olive Oyl and more King Features Syndicate comic strip characters are invited on a cruise hosted by Professor Grimsby, a mad scientist who wants to eliminate laughter from the world. When the ship is held hostage on his island lair, it's up to the much more action-inclined Mandrake the Magician, Steve Canyon, and Flash Gordon (among others) to save the funnymakers from their eternal inprisonment.
Popeye sails to Goon Island in search of his Pappy. He finds the place populated by the imposing, but ugly, goons, and a "no humans" sign. His imprisoned pappy at first ignores him, but when Popeye is caught by the goons and carried off, his can of spinach lands near Pappy and it works just as well on him as it does on Popeye.
Popeye and Olive, adrift on a raft, land on what apparently is Africa, and are immediately battling elephants and gorillas (also a moose!). Popeye eventually battles an entire menagerie at once - after first gulping down a can of spinach, of course.
Popeye skates over to Olive's house to give her a Christmas present: ice skates of her own. While he's teaching her, Bluto skates up and gets fresh; of course, Popeye fights him. When Olive rejects Bluto again, he sends her careening on an ice floe towards a waterfall.
In Judge Wimpy's courtroom, Bluto accuses Popeye of assault and battery; he claims to have been attacked by him on several occasions, without provocation. Popeye then tells his side.
When Popeye takes the baby for a walk in the stroller, the little one won't be quiet unless he's sleeping. Of course there's no end of noisiness.
Bluto is the boxing champ, Popeye his challenger, Wimpy the timekeeper. Popeye is pounded mercilessly until Olive comes by with a can of spinach.
Popeye's ensemble is rehearsing the opening of the Poet and Peasant Overture (with interpolations of the Popeye theme and "I've Been Working on the Railroad"). Maestro Bluto drops in from next door to conduct and play violin and show Popeye up. Popeye plays horribly until he unlocks the previously unexplored artistic benefits of spinach.
It's the middle ages (sort of); Popeye is working in Bluto's Beanery. Bluto is going to the ball where Princess Olive will choose her mate. Popeye's fairy godpappy appears and it's a reverse Cinderella story, with a car created from a can of spinach.
Popeye is heading over to see Olive when he hits a traffic island where a cop is directing traffic; when he gets there, he manages to get more tickets for blowing his horn and parking illegally. The cop rings the bell, and Popeye manages to wreck Olive's apartment by dropping what he's doing, each time he writes a ticket.
Big Chief Ugh-Amugh-Ugh is looking for a squaw. Meanwhile, Popeye and Olive are wrestling with their recalcitrant mule and Olive accidentally lands in the Indian camp. Popeye catches up to her. There's an unfair fight, and Popeye is about to be burned at the stake. He drops his spinach, but it cooks and pops into his mouth.
Popeye and Bluto pick up Olive to celebrate New Year's Eve with them. Popeye brings along her granny out of sympathy.
Popeye is leaving on his sailing ship, much to Olive's chagrin. She ends up accidentally stowing away in a trunk. Popeye discovers her, but she can't stay, because the crew will think she's a jinx. She tries to hide, but this only scares the crew more, because they think the ship's haunted. When she is revealed, the crew comes after her to throw her off, and then turns on captain Popeye.
Popeye visits the bullfight only because of lovely Senorita Olive. He finds himself accidentally in the toreador box, even though he doesn't want to fight because it's cruelty to animals. Popeye rides the bull like a bronco, then gets tossed around a bit. The bull plants Popeye in the ground and attacks; the crowd turns on Popeye. Olive comes down to help and the bull chases her. The crowd throws vegetables at Popeye, including (fortunately) spinach.
Popeye is having a dream. In it, Bluto interrupts his and Olive's flirtations with one another and keeps having the upper hand.
Popeye and Bluto are running competing penny arcades, trying to bring in customer Wimpy. Of course, he would gladly pay Tuesday for a penny today. And of course, their competing arcades show clips featuring each of them, with well over half of this short thus recycled.
Olive is reading a romance novel and munching on a gift box of candy from Bluto when Popeye drops by. She's too absorbed to notice him, so he feigns illness. The doctors are at a loss for a cure.
Olive asks Popeye to walk her dog Fluffy, but Popeye is embarrassed because Fluffy is as weak looking as the name implies. Sure enough, when Bluto and his bulldog come by, the dogs (and their owners) get in a fight.