In autumn of 1916, Irish immigrant John Lawless, Tommy Steele, applies for a butler position with the eccentric Philadelphia millionaire Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Fred MacMurray. Despite the family’s quirks, Lawless quickly discovers he fits in, and Mr. Biddle warms to him with a genuine fondness that hints at a kind of unspoken respect forming between employer and servant.
Mr. Biddle oversees a household that blends boxing, Bible study, and a menagerie, with his Biddle Boxing and Bible School tucked into the stable and his conservatory housing a menagerie of alligators. His wife, Cordelia Biddle, Greer Garson, carries herself with quiet dignity, enduring the eccentricities with a poised sense of pride and class. Their children are a colorful mix: Tony Biddle, Paul Petersen, and Livingston Biddle, Eddie Hodges, head off to boarding school, while Cordy Biddle, Lesley Ann Warren, is a bold tomboy who longs to see what lies beyond the estate’s formal confines.
Cordy’s restlessness—paired with a push from family and a brisk education—sends her to boarding school, where Aunt Mary Drexel, Gladys Cooper, helps steer her toward social polish. There, Cordy’s roommate reveals a more flirtatious, modern side, and at a dance hosted by her aunt and uncle, Cordy meets Angier Buchanan Duke, John Davidson. The two fall into a quick romance. Angier confides a fascination with the automobile industry and dreams of moving to Detroit to build his own fortune, rather than taking over the tobacco business that has long defined his lineage.
That spring, Cordy returns home engaged, and at first Mr. Biddle resists the match. Yet after meeting Angier and witnessing his sharp fighting skill in a moment of JJiu Jitsu-style display, he grows cautiously approving. Soon the families begin planning an extravagant wedding, a spectacle that underscores the social ambition of both sides.
But the glossy plans bring friction. Angier’s mother, Mrs. Duke, Geraldine Page, provides a constant, condescending presence that makes Cordy feel sidelined, while the sprawling “social event of the season” begins to smother the couple’s own desires. The tension peaks when Angier abandons his Detroit dream to fulfill his mother’s wishes by joining the family business, prompting Cordy to call off the wedding in a moment of anger. The Biddles and the Dukes erupt in upheaval, and Mr. Biddle sends John Lawless to keep an eye on Angier.
John finds Angier at a local tavern, weighing his options and trying to decide his future. He urges Angier to return to Cordy, but Angier remains stubborn, flirting with grand, even reckless ideas, including a fleeting notion of joining the Foreign Legion. A bar fight erupts, and Angier is hauled off to jail with John’s quiet help shaping the course of events.
The following morning, Mr. Biddle comes to bail Angier out and delivers a blunt argument: forget your own dreams and accept your place in the family business. The speech has its effect, inspiring Angier to defy his mother and elope with Cordy to Detroit. Cordy, however, believes her father has manipulated Angier, and in a final, audacious gesture of sincerity, Angier carries Cordy over his shoulder and strides out of the jail, signaling a new life together in Detroit despite the pressures of their families.
