Penny Serenade

Julie Gardiner Adams Irene Dunne and Roger Adams Cary Grant rise from a chance encounter to a lifelong partnership, with their love framed by the era’s popular songs that mark each chapter of their lives. Their spur-of-the-moment New Year’s Eve marriage leads to a night together in Roger’s train compartment on the way to San Francisco, after which Julie, who is pregnant, joins him again in Tokyo where he works as a reporter. In 1923, a devastating Tokyo earthquake changes everything: Julie loses their unborn child and returns with Roger to California, where the couple wrestles with grief and uncertainty.

They struggle through despondency until a steadfast friend — Applejack Carney Edgar Buchanan — encourages them to consider adoption as a path to healing and purpose. In Rosalia, a fictional California town, Roger tries to keep a newspaper afloat while Julie manages the house and begins to prepare a nursery for a hopeful family. The couple applies to an adoption agency, hoping for a two-year-old boy, only to be told that a five-week-old baby girl is available. Though Roger would have preferred a boy, he soon finds himself falling deeply in love with the infant, and the two of them care for her through a full year of probation.

As the probation period ends, Roger’s newspaper has failed, and the law requires a steady income to finalize an adoption. He stands before the judge, delivering a heartfelt plea to keep the child he has grown to regard as his own. Moved by his plea, the judge awards custody, and Roger returns home to Julie with their daughter, beginning an adulthood shaped by resilience, commitment, and the quiet strength of shared responsibility.

Years pass, and the family’s pride swells as their daughter, Trina Eva Lee Kuney (not yet old enough to play an angel in the Christmas pageant), grows under their careful guidance. The following Christmas brings tragedy when Julie writes to Miss Oliver Beulah Bondi that Trina has died from a sudden illness. Roger falls into a deep depression, and Julie contemplates leaving him, convinced that he no longer needs her. In a moment of renewed possibility, just as she is about to rush to the train station, a call from Miss Oliver brings news of another opportunity: a two-year-old boy has become available for adoption. United by loss and hope, Roger and Julie embrace the chance to rebuild their marriage with a new child, ready to face the future together.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:08