À deux jours de Thanksgiving, Neal Page se prépare à rejoindre sa femme à Chicago afin de passer les fêtes en famille. Mais le mauvais temps est de la partie, l'avion est annulé, et Neal se trouve affublé d'un compagnon d'infortune, Del Griffith, sympathique mais bavard vendeur de rideaux de douche, qui ne semble pas décidé à le lâcher ...

Teenage orphan Jenny Yates becomes starstruck when a revival of an old Victorian melodrama passes through her small New England town, to the disapproval of her stern grandfather, Uriah. Stowing away in the car of Philip Greene, a wealthy young man working with the theater troupe, Jenny talks her way into the play's lead role. But director Archie Fisher doesn't tell her that the new version of the play is meant as a spoof.