[1] During the final months of World War II, a young man is hitchhiking to the small town of Plainfield.

In addition to blaming him for causing her accident, she resents that he has somehow avoided military service, but when he goes to get some gas, she discovers a uniform (with many decorations) in his suitcase and becomes friendlier to him.

He is sure that she is a spoiled rich girl, and in fact Wilhelmina "Willie" Hammond is indeed a member of a wealthy high-society family, running from an arranged marriage to another socially prominent type, stolid Alvin Bailey.

Willie initially thinks that Marion is an Army deserter, but after he explains he received a medical discharge, she gives him a job as the family chauffeur, though Wiggins, the eccentric old caretaker of the estate, has misgivings.

Willie's widowed mother, Mrs. Hammond, "old maid" Aunt Harriet, and younger sister Patricia all return from New York City, along with Alvin Bailey and his physical trainer and sidekick, Champ.