Judy LeRoy, Debbie Reynolds, a chorus girl with dreams of Hollywood stardom, is promoted from the chorus to perform as a human football in the Broadway musical Quarterback Kelly. On her way to a dance rehearsal, Judy accidentally bumps into Melvin Hoover, the bumbling assistant to Look magazine photographer Mergo (Jim Backus) in Central Park, and after a brief argument, they part ways.
That night, after seeing Judy’s picture on a poster for Quarterback Kelly, Melvin uses his press credentials to watch her football number from backstage. After the show, as Judy leaves with her suitor Harry Flack, the heir to a paper box company, Melvin offers to shoot a photo spread of her for Look, and she accepts.
Melvin visits Judy at home to take pictures, and as they spend more time together to do photo shoots, they develop real feelings for each other. At home, Judy’s family—Mom Schneider, Una Merkel, and Frank Schneider, Allyn Joslyn—press her about marrying the well-to-do Harry. Judy confides in Melvin that her family wants a stable match, and she asks him to help put her on the Look cover to win some space from the pressure.
Desperate to win Judy’s affections, Melvin promises to try. The next day, he papers the Look offices with Judy photographs, but the editors opt for a cover featuring a race horse instead, dimming Judy’s prospects. When Judy reveals at dinner that Harry has proposed, she hasn’t yet given an answer, and the pressure tightens as Melvin reads the room and the clock ticks toward the closing of Quarterback Kelly.
To help, Melvin enlists Mergo to create a fake Look issue with Judy’s photograph on the cover. Before Melvin can explain, Judy proudly shows the fake to her family and announces she cannot marry Harry. The next Look issue arrives, and Judy is conspicuously absent from the cover, devastating her and her kin. Melvin, too nervous to confess, claims that Judy’s image will appear on the next issue.
Frank angrily confronts Look’s editor, Mr. Henneman, Les Tremayne, who reveals that the issue Judy saw was a fake. Judy realizes Melvin engineered the ruse to keep her from marrying Harry. Mergo then reveals that Melvin disappeared weeks earlier after quitting his job, leaving Judy heartbroken yet strangely determined to find him.
As the police search for Melvin, the couple’s world collides again in Central Park. Melvin hides and spots a man reading a Look with Judy’s cover. Thinking it’s another fake, he grabs the magazine and is chased through the park by officers. Judy and her family—now including her sister Clarabelle Schneider, Noreen Corcoran—arrive in pursuit, and the trio ultimately collide with Melvin at the very spot where they first met. Judy shows him the Look magazine, which carries a full-page ad announcing Melvin’s disappearance, and the two share a hopeful kiss, deciding that their love can weather the storm.
