In Los Angeles, Steve Elliott, Red Skelton a songwriter, prepares to marry Caroline Brooks, Esther Williams who has pledged to give up her job as a college swimming instructor. Meanwhile, Steve plans to leave behind his songwriting career, even though New York producer George Adams, Basil Rathbone, has already hired him to write fresh songs for a flashy water ballet show. When George overhears Steve discussing his supposed “retirement,” he resolves to stop him and enlists Maria Dorango, an aspiring actress posing as a Latin-American singer, to stir up trouble. Moments after a justice of the peace pronounces Steve and Caroline as husband and wife, Maria bursts in, claiming that Steve is her husband and the father of her three redheaded children, who are paraded before the startled couple. Steve pleads his innocence, while Caroline storms off and returns to her teaching post at Victoria College in New Jersey. A determined Steve and his friend, Carlos Ramírez, Carlos Ramírez follow her there, only to be barred from entering the all-female school.
Later, in a New York nightclub, Steve meets Chester Klazenfrantz, a drunken lawyer who has been hired to change Victoria College’s charter so that it officially becomes an all-female institution. Armed with this unsettling information, Steve goes back to Victoria and提出 an application for admission. The Dean Clinton, Nana Bryant, suggests a risky two-week probation with a heavy demerit load to trigger expulsion before Parents Day, setting the stage for a difficult campus test. Once enrolled, Steve is isolated in a dusty basement storage space, far from the female students, and he tries to speak with Caroline, who refuses to listen. In the meantime, Willis Evans, a botanist in love with Caroline, has his own interference, and his Great Dane, Duke, is posted to guard the closet door.
That night, Steve is forced to face the reality of institutional scrutiny, and his plan to defend his innocence collides with the pressure to produce results. When Steve seeks help, his old associate George Adams shifts gears, even promising to assist if Steve completes his assigned “homework.” Meanwhile, Professor Hendricks, Francis Pierlot a stern instructor, tries to expose Steve’s missteps by demanding a fresh rendition of a Scottish ballad, Loch Lomond, and a class performance the next day, which Steve, with the help of Carlos Ramírez and a few talented students, manages to deliver with an impressive musical showing, earning an A.
The campus chaos intensifies as Caroline visits Steve at her home, only to find Willis Evans already there, prompting a tense scene where the Great Dane guards the closet while Caroline enforces a strict boundary. Steve escapes the watchful dog with a clever ruse, and later, after a confrontation with George, the two men strike a wary compromise: George agrees to back off if Steve completes his songs and even helps with the homework, signaling a fragile truce amid the growing melodrama.
As Parents Day nears, Dean Clinton orders the faculty to press harder on Steve, culminating in a flamboyant ballet challenge. Madame Zarka, Ann Codee the strict eurythmics instructor, compels Steve to wear a tutu and dance with the female students, drawing a roar of embarrassment from him. Yet, when Zarka starts doling out demerits, Steve eventually delivers a remarkable ballet performance, earning a tentative endorsement from the administration. Caroline agrees to accompany Steve on a pre-Parents Day errand to help ensure his return to Victoria, though she is initially wary of the budding conspiracy around him. They drive back with plans to return to California together, unaware that Maria is still on campus scheming to expose George, who is actively trying to erase any trace of her involvement.
A campus sorority, along with Jean Allenwood, Jean Porter and another student, arrives bearing news that her parents (her mother played by Margaret Dumont, Margaret Dumont) and Dean Clinton are en route to inspect the room to confirm there is no male student on campus. In a moment that nods to the Marx Brothers, Steve hides the women in two closets and, with George’s help, keeps both the Dean and the Allenwoods in the dark. Maria reveals herself to Caroline, and with the truth in the open, Caroline exits in a fit of fury while the others depart in a slapstick, parading frenzy.
In the final act, Steve agrees to compose songs for George’s water ballet show on the condition that Caroline becomes the star. Once Maria has spoken the truth, Caroline forgives Steve and the couple reconciles. As the water ballet concludes, Steve’s attempt to chase George ends in a comic turn when he realizes he cannot swim; Caroline comes to the rescue and seals their reunion with a kiss, cementing their return to California together and the end of the crisis with a buoyant sense of triumph and romance.
