Millie McGonigle, Evelyn Keyes is a sharp, no-nonsense assistant personnel director at a bustling department store. On a routine bus ride home, the frustrated driver Doug Andrews, Glenn Ford abruptly quits, forcing Millie to confront a mix of irritation and admiration for his confident independence as she reaches for her business card and looks ahead to what the day might bring.
The following day brings shocking news: Tommy Bassett, a boy Millie knows and cares about, has lost his mother in a traffic accident. With his father already fallen in World War II, Tommy is sent to a foundling home. Millie, who was an orphan herself, feels a tug to adopt him and offers what she believes is a practical solution to a difficult problem. Ralph Galloway, head of the orphan’s home, informs her that adoption requires marriage, and he cannot bend the rules. To press on, Millie fabricates a fiancé who is supposedly away in Alaska, but Ralph makes it clear he will need to interview this phantom suitor within 60 days to keep the process legitimate.
When Doug comes back into town seeking work, Millie recognizes him as a potentially suitable husband in theory, if not in fact. She invites him on a date, hoping to test his compatibility with her businesslike, determined world. Doug, sensing that something unusual is afoot, gently nudges her to reveal what she’s trying to accomplish. He is a confirmed bachelor by nature, yet he agrees to lend a hand and play along, offering practical bluntness to her plans.
Doug’s presence proves unexpectedly influential. Millie’s self-discipline begins to loosen as two other men—Ralph in his steadier, respectable way, and Phil Gowan, Millie’s dashing neighbor—find themselves drawn to her. Millie discovers she is increasingly captivated by Doug, even as she tries to manage appearances and proprieties.
As Doug, an aspiring writer, learns that his manuscript will be published, he leaves his job at the department store to move to New York and work with the publisher. A potential new family arrives on the scene: a couple expresses interest in adopting Tommy. Ralph confronts Millie with the deadline she feared—those 60 days are up. He pressures her to admit there is no real fiancé, and then suggests she marry him, a proposal she rejects in favor of Phil’s more romantic offer. When she breaks the news to Doug, he offers a stark bit of advice: never tell her future husband why she is marrying him, because
> A man likes to think he's loved for himself alone.
Millie is torn between the idea of marrying for Tommy’s sake and realizing her own heart’s true direction. She cannot go through with the planned marriage, and she makes a painful choice: she will chase after Doug rather than keep fighting for Tommy. She goes to see the boy one last time, only to learn that Tommy had been taken away an hour earlier. Heartbroken, she returns to her lonely apartment, where Doug is waiting. She kisses him, confessing that she loves him even more than Tommy. Doug remains unmoved, brusquely ordering her to wipe the lipstick from her face. When she does, she finds Tommy sleeping on her bed, and Doug standing behind her with a quiet, knowing smile.
