Newspaper tycoon Judson M. Blair has had enough of his wife Adele's extravagances, so when the former chorine refuses to return an expensive ring she has just bought, he sues for divorce. Unfortunately for Blair, the hearing judge, Cornelia Porter, refuses to listen to his remarks about Adele and grants her alimony of $4,000 a month, unless she remarries. Because Cornelia will not even consider changing her mind, Blair decides that the only way he can better his situation is if a scandal causes the upstanding judge to leave the bench. Ace reporter Jeff Sherman, whom Blair has repeatedly fired, offers to help out, but only if Blair will rehire him, raise his salary and move him to the Washington beat. Jeff then goes to his manicurist friend Dotty, and offers her money to take out a marriage license with him, then sue Cornelia for alienation of affection after Jeff has had a chance to romance her. Jeff soon follows Cornelia to Cape Cod, where she plans to spend a two-month vacation with her sister Jane and nephew Freddie, and do some amateur sculpting. Jeff's plans to meet Cornelia on the train go awry when Freddie will not cooperate, so on Cape Cod, Jeff manages to take over the studio of Raoul, a local sculptor, by having Blair hire him away to work on his New York office building. Several attempts to get close to Cornelia fail, until Jeff is invited to dinner by Jane after he pretends to save Freddie from drowning. Cornelia is suspicious of Jeff, as is her longtime suitor, Walter Caldwell, but when she sees "his" sculptures, and they have fun singing together on a moonlight tandem bicycle ride, she changes her opinion. After spending more time together, Jeff invites Cornelia to his studio, but while she is there, Dotty calls to say that she is in town. Jeff makes an excuse to Cornelia, then gets Dotty drunk and promises to marry her if she will go back to New York and return the next Saturday. While Jeff starts to fall in love with Cornelia, Dotty is on a spending spree in New York and confronts Blair about giving her more money. When Saturday arrives, Jeff decides that he cannot go through with his plan and returns to New York to tell Blair. While he is gone, Cornelia goes to the studio and finds Raoul, who unwittingly reveals that Jeff is working for Blair. In New York, just as Jeff is telling Blair that Cornelia is too fine a lady to be tricked, they are both arrested. In court, Cornelia acts as the prosecuting attorney, while her friend and mentor, Judge Graham, presides. Jeff acts as his own attorney and when he presents his case, he calls Cornelia to the witness stand. Although she is hostile, he proposes and she eventually admits that she loves him, then rushes out of the courtroom in tears. Graham finds Jeff and Blair guilty but only sentences them to one day in jail. Outside the courthouse, after Jeff sees a newspaper headline announcing Adele's marriage to an old millionaire, he falls down because Blair had just given her a big settlement to stop the monthly alimony payments. Although he is not hurt, Cornelia thinks he is and rushes to him. Sometime later, Cornelia and Jeff are happily singing "Daisy Bell" on Cape Cod as they once again ride a bicycle built for two.