The film tells of a man who has risen from humble beginnings only to be torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family.

The film, adapted by Donald Ogden Stewart and Sidney Buchman from the 1928 play of the same name by Philip Barry, stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and features Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres, and Edward Everett Horton.

[3] Jonathan "Johnny" Case (Cary Grant), a self-made man who has worked all his life, is about to marry Julia Seton (Doris Nolan), whom he met while on holiday in Lake Placid, New York.

He knows very little about his bride-to-be, and is surprised to learn that she is from an extremely wealthy family, the younger daughter of banker Edward Seton (Henry Kolker).

Then Johnny meets Julia's vivacious elder sister, Linda (Katharine Hepburn), to whom he confides his plan to take a long holiday from work to find the meaning of life.

He also meets the sisters' younger brother, Ned Jr. (Lew Ayres), an alcoholic whose spirit has been broken by subservience to their father.

Julia sends Johnny to get her, and he finds her and Ned in "the playroom", the one truly human room in the enormous and over-built Park Avenue mansion.

They are with Johnny's off-beat friends, Professor Nick Potter (Edward Everett Horton) and his wife Susan (Jean Dixon), who had gotten lost in the house and serendipitously ended up there.

Johnny leaves the mansion in a dark mood without saying goodbye to the family, although he wishes the kitchen staff a Happy New Year as he goes.

Mr. Seton accepts this, and Julia and he begin planning the couple's honeymoon in minute detail, mixing together stops at the homes of relatives with business-related matter.

Although the film was intended to reunite The Awful Truth co-stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, George Cukor decided to cast Hepburn instead,[5] and Columbia borrowed her from RKO, where she had just turned down the lead role in Mother Carey's Chickens.

[6] Donald Ogden Stewart, who co-wrote the screenplay, had played Professor Nick Potter in the original Broadway cast.

"[9] Hepburn biographers have speculated that Johnny Case's plans to give up working did not appeal to Great Depression audiences who were struggling to find jobs.