In the small town of Duck Creek, Connecticut, all the friendly residents turn out for Sunday services, and enjoy listening to Cindy Kimbell, soloist with the church choir. Afterward, the Kimball family meal is interrupted when a policeman brings over Rick Belrow Livingston III, who was caught speeding through town. Adamant about safe driving and annoyed by the young man's flippant attitude, Cindy's father Gordon, who is the town's judge, sentences Rick to thirty days in jail. Rick's fiancee, Broadway star Lisa Bellmount, is disappointed that they must postpone their elopement, and promptly notifies the press. Rick is taken to the town's jail, and rumors of the rich, handsome inmate quickly spread among the local young women. That evening, Rick watches from his cell as the town's young people gather across the street for a box social, and sees Cindy dance with her beau, Ludwig Schlemmer. Rick's mother arrives in her chauffeur-driven car and speaks to Gordon, but when he refuses to release Rick, she cheerfully agrees with his decision, and leaves without seeing her son. The bidding begins for the box suppers prepared by the young ladies, and Rick outbids Ludwig for Cindy's offering. Cindy reluctantly joins Rick in his cell, and defends the pleasures of small town life. The next morning, out-of-town photographers find Rick cleaning the sidewalk and snap a picture of him just as he impulsively pulls Cindy into his arms. Cindy then goes to her job at "Papa" Eric Schlemmer's dry goods store, where Ludwig, who dreams of being a Broadway dancer, also works. The picture of Rick and Cindy is on the front page of the paper that evening, and a jealous Lisa comes to town the next day. After confronting Cindy, Lisa visits Rick in jail and reminds him that her birthday is a couple of days away. Desperate to get out of jail, Rick pretends to go on a hunger strike, and when that does not work, attempts to play on Cindy's sympathies by telling her it is his mother's birthday. Cindy persuades Happy, the jailer, to let the prisoner escape for the night, but insists on accompanying Rick on his visit to his "mother." They go to the elegant Livingston mansion in New York, where a formal gathering is in progress. After Cindy sings for the guests at Rick's request, his butler, Hemmingway, locks her in a fur vault while Rick slips away to watch Lisa dance in a Broadway musical. While visiting Lisa in her dressing room, Rick gets a call from Hemmingway, and when he learns that Cindy is in the extremely cold fur vault, he races home to help her. He then takes Cindy out for a night on the town, and romantic feelings overtake them. They return to Duck Creek, with Cindy still wearing a mink coat from the vault, and when an astonished Happy sees them kiss, he immediately goes to Papa with the news. Papa awakens his son and says it is time he marries Cindy, but Ludwig protests that he is more interested in his dancing career. Papa nonetheless drags him to Cindy's house the next day and orders him to propose, and Ludwig is euphoric when she turns him down. Papa implores Gordon to parole Rick, but Gordon refuses until he sees the mink coat in the hall closet. Rick asks to serve his sentence, adding that he has come to like Duck Creek, but Gordon, concerned about the young man's engagement, insists that he leave town. In New York, Rick goes to the theater to see Lisa, who has been keeping herself busy with other men in his absence. Backstage, he encounters Ludwig, who has come to the city seeking his big break. Rick is suddenly overcome with nostalgia for the small town he just left. That Sunday, Rick and his mother attend church services in Duck Creek, and he and Cindy gaze at each other as the choir joyfully sings.