[3][4] The newly-wed Halsteads, Arthur (Jack Carson) and Vivian (Jane Wyman), upon their arrival at their overcrowded D.C. hotel, set out for the honeymoon suite, only to find it usurped by the previous newlywed couple the Cadmans, Julian (John Ridgely) and Edna (Ann Sheridan).

[6] Add to this a military contractor with a no nonsense attitude; a lecherous boss; an FBI investigator; a judge (to make one couple's marriage "legal"); a group of orphan babies; a Russian who likes to shoot pigeons;[6] and a wandering man trying to find somewhere, anywhere to get some sleep.

[5] Warner Bros. bought the rights for The Doughgirls stage play[2] for $250,000 but still needed a script and a way to get the story of three unmarried couples in the same hotel suite around the censors, known as the Breen office, onto the screen.

They added jokes to address overcrowding in Washington, D.C., using wartime references such as rationing and meatless Tuesdays, while putting in a White House visit for the Dillons to meet the Roosevelts off camera.

[6] Daniel Bubbeo in The Women of Warner Brothers described The Doughgirls as "a raucous farce where the humor comes from the unconsummated marriage of Wyman and Carson, with a great performance by Eve Arden as a visiting Russian.