Vale looked the stronger side at the start and a mistake by Paul Wotton nearly gifted the home team a goal when he passed the ball straight to Steve McPhee but he failed to capitalise and put it wide of the keeper's left post.
In the 35th minute the Pilgrims took the lead when Marino Keith scooped the ball into an empty net after Dean Delaney was left grounded after Micky Evans' shot had been blocked.
David Friio then popped up three minutes later when Evans supplied a cross from the left to pick out his team-mate who was completely unmarked and subsequently headed home from six yards.
When the home faithful thought it could not get any worse, a brilliant individual effort from Steve Adams from 25 yards sailed into Delaney's top right-hand corner.
The Pilgrims picked up where they left off when they came out for the second half. Substitute Liam Burns gave away a foul with his first touch and Wotton proceeded to hammer the 25-yard free-kick into the bottom left-hand corner.
Vale grabbed one back in the 52nd minute when a long throw by defender Sam Collins was flicked on by Billy Paynter to the feet of McPhee who turned on a half volley and fired past Luke McCormick to his left.
Friio rounded off his magnificent performance just before his substitution when he struck a 30-yard shot over Delaney into the corner of the net.
After the game Plymouth manager Paul Sturrock said: "If we're honest, we should have been 1-0 down and looked really sluggish early on.
"But, looking on the bright side, we look like we could score goals from anywhere at the moment.
"Before our run of form came about, we hadn't scored in three games. It's just the confidence of everyone wanting to get forward."