Glamorous movie star Carol Corliss Ginger Rogers suffers from agoraphobia, a fear of large crowds that keeps her fans at arm’s length and forces her to hide behind a veiled, buck-toothed disguise whenever she steps into public view. Her psychologist, Dr. Aaron Sylvester Samuel S. Hinds, believes a mountain escape could steady her nerves, and after she faints in a crowded street, outdoorsman Emory Muir George Brent comes to her aid, hardly able to picture the glamorous actress beneath the drab exterior.
Carol proposes a ruse to reach tranquility: she pretends to be the plain Miss Clara Colfax and convinces Emory to take her to his secluded mountain retreat, where she can recover away from the prying eyes of Hollywood. He reluctantly agrees, granting her a stay in his lake cabin. There, Emory spots Carol swimming openly, still unrecognized by the world, and his curiosity about the woman behind the mask grows. He even phones her psychiatrist, who refuses to name his patient, turning the mystery into a private, insistently unanswered question. In town, Emory discovers a photograph of Carol Corliss and realizes that his quiet guest “Clara” is the famous actress, a revelation that challenges the boundaries of their budding rapport.
When Carol finally decides to reveal her true identity, Emory remains cool and unimpressed, pretending to doubt her confession as a way to protect both of them from disruption. Inside the cabin, Carol hears herself on the radio singing "Got a New Lease on Life," and she sings and dances along for Emory, though his skepticism lingers. The moment of proof comes only when she leads him to the movie theater showing her latest film, and the world learns the truth along with him.
As their situation deepens, Carol begins to feel a genuine pull toward Emory, drawn to his rugged sincerity rather than the glittering spotlight that once defined her. Yet the delicate balance of desire and fame is unsettled when Jay Holmes Alan Mowbray, her frequent film co-star, arrives at the lake to declare his love for her, injecting a new layer of tension into the evolving bond between Carol and Emory. The story weaves innocence and glamour, risk and romance, as a star tries to navigate real emotion away from the glare of the cameras, with the mountains offering both sanctuary and complication.
