Joy in the Morning is a 1965 American romance film starring Richard Chamberlain and Yvette Mimieux and directed by Alex Segal.

In the late 1920s, 18-year-old Annie McGairy travels from Brooklyn to a college town in the Midwest to marry her boyfriend Carl Brown, a law student, at the local courthouse.

The newlyweds must overcome many obstacles, including disapproval from their parents (who knew each other before emigrating to the U.S. from Ireland), financial problems, and Annie's sexual insecurities.

Joy in the Morning, Smith's fourth, and last, novel, was based on her own life; she married during the Depression and lived near campus while her husband studied law.

[4] In January 1964, the lead role was given to Richard Chamberlain, who was at that time a teen idol and the star of the MGM TV series Dr.

[1] The film has been described as "amateurishly acted (especially by stars Richard Chamberlain and Yvette Mimieux as Carl and Annie), badly written, and hideously directed ... unrelenting mawkishness".