On a luxurious yacht, heiress Joan Butterfield, Virginia Bruce can’t convince her grandfather to loosen the rules, so she quietly slips away and heads for New York City. Reporter Bill Spencer, Fredric March arrives at the yacht just moments too late to catch a proper glimpse, hoping to snap a rare photograph for his editor, Mr. Stevens, Eugene Pallette. When the chance escapes him, Bill doubles down on his pursuit, convincing Stevens to back a more ambitious story: a contrast between Joan’s gilded life and that of an ordinary department-store salesgirl. The newsroom buzzes with the plan as Bill bets on a sensational piece that would show a world of luxury beside everyday work.
In New York, Joan is spotted by good-hearted Peggy O'Brien, Patsy Kelly, after an amusing turn of fate in an automat. Peggy’s kindness wins Joan a free lunch when her own meal is stolen, and the manager’s refusal to replace it is politely overridden by Joan’s easy charm. The two women become fast friends, and Peggy offers Joan a place to stay, then promises to help her land a job at Butterfield’s department store—Peggy’s workplace. To keep her identity hidden, Joan adopts the alias Joan Baker, and she learns to navigate the small, messy realities of everyday life, including the surprisingly tricky art of cooking dinner.
When Bill steps into Butterfield’s for his feature, he recognizes Joan after all, and the pursuit shifts from the yacht to a personal chase. At first, Joan resists and tries to keep him at arm’s length, but she slowly opens up, and their relationship deepens as she reveals the down-to-earth person beneath the designer clothes. Bill’s growing affection for her is tempered by the tension of his assignment: can he fall for the woman he’s supposed to photograph and write about without compromising her story?
Tensions rise when a jealous coworker, Dorothy Moore, Nancy Carroll, notices the inscription on a watch—“To Joan Butterfield—from Gramps” —and realizes Joan’s true identity. The discovery fuels a rift and adds pressure on Joan, who is trying to balance honesty with the life she’s come to enjoy. Peggy, puzzled by Joan’s preference for an ordinary life, stands by her friend even as the newsroom story looms large over both their lives. Without fully understanding the stakes, Peggy calls Bill to explain what she’s learned, and Bill secretly takes Joan to his island cabin just twenty-five miles from New York, hoping to salvage something real amid the headlines.
Back in the city, Bill’s friend Flash Fisher, [Arthur Lake], passes along information that helps Gramps—Cyrus W. Butterfield, Claude Gillingwater—and his team race to the island before Bill can rejoin Joan. Gramps lands with his crew by speedboat and, armed with the newspaper’s sensational piece, confronts Joan with the dream of family and name rather than headlines. Bill arrives only to find Joan hurt and angry, and she leaves, sure that her identity and her relationship have been compromised.
In the quiet that follows, Peggy and her chiropractor boyfriend, Pennypepper E. Pennypepper, Alan Mowbray, devise a playful plan to bring the couple back together: a pair of telegrams signed by the other, inviting each to meet on the island. The ruse works in time, and when they finally meet again, initial reluctance yields to rediscovered affection. A thunderclap frightens Joan, driving her into Bill’s arms as a minister—sent by Peggy and Pennypepper—opens the wedding book and prepares to seal their union.
Throughout, the story threads a contrast between glittering city life and simple, genuine connection, showing how two people can learn to understand and value what truly matters. The romance widens into a shared future only after the emotional misunderstandings clear, the newsroom reshaped by love rather than by sensationalism, and a quiet ceremony confirms that the heart can outpace the press.
