Reporter "Red" Reddy mesmerizes his fellow New York- bound passengers by repeating the phrase "hy menush" to the clack of the train wheels. Red is himself mesmerized when Linda Norton boards the train, but she rejects his advances. When Linda is met at the New York station by her suitor, insurance salesman Charles Baker, Red glances at her luggage tags and jots down her name. Upon returning from vacation, Linda, a secretary to attorney Markham, goes to the office, where she learns that her boss is enmeshed in a custody suit for little Bridget Potter. Because Bridget's prominent parents are squabbling over her, the judge awards Markham custody, and he entrusts the care of the little girl to Linda. Meanwhile, Red, who has called every Linda Norton in the phone book in search of his dream woman, decides to quit his job as a reporter to write the great American novel. When fellow reporter "Space" O'Shea suggests that he retreat to the mountains to write his masterpiece, Red makes plans to visit Lake Mohawk. Linda also decides to travel to Lake Mohawk to remove Bridget from the custody battle, and Bridget meets Red on the train to the lake. When Linda and Bridget arrive at the lodge posing as sisters, Linda is appalled to discover that Red is also a lodger at the lake. Soon after their arrival, a private detective visits the lodge in search of Bridget, and the little girl tells him that Red is her father, the African explorer Professor Stanley, and Linda is her mother. After Linda reluctantly agrees to continue the ruse, Charles, who saw Red board Linda's train, bursts into the hotel and finds the "Stanley" family. Although Linda explains the deception to Charles, he insists upon remaining at the lake. Despite Charles' presence, Red continues romancing Linda, telling her that he is a novelist. Back in New York, Space determines to find Bridget and scoop the custody battle story. Pretending to be Linda's cousin, Space tricks Markham into revealing that Linda is at Lake Mohawk. She leaves for the lake immediately, arriving just after the Migratory Bird Club. Amid bird calls, Space tells Linda that Red is a reporter, leading her to believe that Red has been romancing her for a story. As Red tries to prevent Space from phoning in her story, Charles drives Bridget and Linda back to the city. Bridget, determined to reconcile her "parents," incites Charles to speed, and the three are arrested and taken to the courthouse, where Bridget insists that the judge call her "father", Red Stanley. After instructing the judge to detain his "wife and child," Red calls the Potters, and they all meet at the courthouse. There the Potters pretend to be a big happy family, thus quashing Space's story. Space then sets her sights on Charles, and Red and Linda marry. On their train trip to Niagara Falls, the conducter advises them to repeat the phrase "hy menush" to overcome insomnia.