Five-year-old Shirley Blake Shirley Temple and her widowed mother Mary Blake Lois Wilson, a maid, live in the home of the wealthy and sharp-tongued Smythe family: Anita Smythe [Dorothy Christy], J. Wellington Smythe [Theodore von Eltz], their spoiled seven-year-old daughter Joy Smythe [Jane Withers], and cantankerous Uncle Ned Smith [Charles Sellon], along with their housekeeper Mrs. Higgins [Jane Darwell]. After Christmas morning, Shirley visits her late father’s pilot friends at the airport, where the aviators bring her aboard an airplane and taxi her around the runways while she serenades them with a bright rendition of "On the Good Ship Lollipop."
Mary’s death in a traffic accident soon follows, and Loop Merritt [James Dunn], one of the pilots and Shirley’s godfather, takes Shirley in, explaining that they are in Heaven, where her mother now rests. When the Smythes learn of Mary’s passing, they scheme to send Shirley to an orphanage, but Uncle Ned [Charles Sellon], who has grown fond of Shirley’s bright spirit, insists that she stay with them. To help fund attorney fees, Loop reluctantly accepts a lucrative cross-country flight to New York, a dangerous assignment that the family hopes will secure Shirley’s future.
Unbeknownst to Loop, Shirley has slipped away from the Smythes’ home, found his airplane at the airport, and stowed away inside. In the midst of a ferocious storm in the wilderness, their plane loses control, and the two passengers parachute to the ground together, where they are eventually rescued. The custody dispute reaches a turning point when Loop, his former fiancée Adele [Judith Allen], Uncle Ned, and Shirley decide to build a new, shared life—together—with the girl at the center of their plan.
The Smythe family leaves the courthouse miserable, while Joy, initially surprised in tone, snaps that at least they won’t have to pretend to be nice to Uncle Ned anymore—a remark that earns a sharp, corrective slap from her mother. In the end, the film settles into a nuanced picture of family bonds tested by money, pride, and a child’s resilience, with Shirley at the heart of a makeshift family that chooses love and inclusion over appearances.
