Helen North is a civilian nurse working in the dispensary at NAS Alameda, the California U.S. Navy base to which Frank is assigned.

They immediately hit it off and go on a date, all the while shying away from admitting their respective secrets: Frank has ten children and Helen has eight, from previous marriages ended by their spouses' deaths.

But Chief Warrant Officer Darrell Harrison is determined to bring them together, so he "fixes up" each of them with a sure-to-be-incompatible blind date.

This nearly turns disastrous when Mike, Rusty and Greg, Frank's three sons, mix hefty doses of gin, scotch and vodka into Helen's drink.

As a result, Helen's behavior turns wild and embarrassing, which Frank cannot comprehend until he catches his sons trying to conceal their laughter.

This prompts Helen and Frank to discuss cross-adopting each other's children, who (except for Philip) are aghast at the notion of "reburying" their deceased biological parents.

They included Desi Arnaz, James Stewart, Fred MacMurray, Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and John Wayne.

[4] However, Mr. Carroll is said to recall his wife mentioning the story in 1960—again, a full year before the Beardsleys were married and probably when Dick North was still alive.

In any event, Desilu Productions did secure the rights early on, and Mr. Carroll and Madelyn Pugh began instantly to write a script.

[citation needed] Mr. Spigelgass does not seem to have succeeded in breaking free of Lucy's television work, so producer Robert Blumofe hired yet two more writers (Mickey Rudin and Bernie Weitzman) to make an attempt.

[citation needed] Leonard Spigelgass received no on-screen writing credit for his efforts in this film.

[8] Frank Beardsley commented that his family enjoyed the film as general entertainment, and acknowledged that perhaps the scriptwriters felt that their screenplay was "a better story" than the truth.

It was released on Blu-ray on September 13, 2016 through Olive Films (under license from MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment).