An initial lack of customers forces Harry Selfridge to think of ways of attracting people to his new London department store. He persuades French aviator and the first man to fly across the English Channel, Louis Blériot, to make a personal appearance in the shop along with the aircraft in which he made his historic flight. Meanwhile Harry's infatuation with music-hall artiste Ellen Love results in them being caught in a compromising situation while his marriage comes under threat from another source, young bohemian artist Roddy Temple. Agnes gets her brother George a job as a porter and their father Reg foists himself on them. Victor Colleano is propositioned by a well to do customer.