As bank clerk Dodie ferries home to Balboa Bay, California, she imagines meeting the very wealthy man of her dreams. That evening, her boyfriend, real estate agent Buzz, takes her to Lovers’ Beach, where he reveals that he was promoted and wants to marry her. She refuses, until he finally adds that he truly loves her and will do everything he can to care for her. Even though Dodie knows she does not love him, she accepts. At home, where Dodie lives with her parents and teenage sister Peteine, she fantasizes about her wedding, but her daydream soon degenerates into a vision of a life devoid of passion and focused only on social climbing. At the bank the next day, Dodie informs her best friend Marge about the engagement, but begins to experience second thoughts when the yacht of millionaire Neil Patterson, Jr. sails by. She and Marge take the ferry home, and when they spot a man hopping off the yacht and into a motorboat, Dodie impulsively jumps into the water in order to meet him. He fishes her out of the bay and, charmed, asks for a date that night. Although Dodie’s father at first chastises her for betraying Buzz, when he hears that her date is a millionaire, he rushes to help her get ready. As soon as Dodie leaves with her date, however, he explains that he has only two dollars and a dime, and she realizes that he is not Neil, but Neil’s mechanic, Pete. Dodie is furious, but the smitten Pete convinces her to go out with him. Accompanied by Marge and her date, sailor Sam Kelsey, Dodie and Pete enjoy a lovely night together by the pier, debating the whole time about her obsession with marrying a wealthy man. Pete argues that kindness and honesty make a man a man rich, not money, and seems to know everyone in town. By the end of the night, Pete is in love, and when he kisses Dodie she finally feels the way she has always dreamed of feeling, as if she is on a pink cloud. When he proposes, she at first demurs, explaining that she is already engaged to Buzz, but accepts him after another kiss. Pete leaves, and this time her fantasy about the future casts her as an Indian squaw, stuck with a brood of nine children but enjoying a passionate marriage. The next night, Pete stands outside Buzz’s office, and plays along when Buzz assumes he is a customer. Buzz breaks his date with Dodie in order to show his new prospect a house, insisting that Pete bring along his fiancée. When he sees that the girl is Dodie, however, Buzz is dismayed, and abandons the couple by the ocean, forcing them to walk home. Along the way, they hear a muffled cry for help and discover a drunken man, whom Pete identifies as Neil, paddling helplessly in the water. While Pete runs off to call a driver, Dodie charms Neil, who asks her on a date for the following evening. She meets him on his yacht, where he plies her with delicacies and liqueurs, but when he makes advances, she threatens to jump overboard unless he stops. He complies, and instead takes her to Tijuana, where he is delighted by her vivacity. They meet Marge and Sam there, and the four dance all night until Neil finally buys a cab to drive a drunken Dodie home at four a.m. Both Buzz and Pete are waiting on her front porch, and although all three suitors explain to her that she must choose one fiancé, she is too drunk to think clearly, so they put her to bed. The three return in the morning for breakfast and wait in suspense until Dodie finally descends the stairs, her decision made. After gently informing first Buzz and then Pete that she has always dreamed of marrying a man like Neil, Dodie offers her hand to the millionaire. A thrilled Neil suggests that they leave for a marriage cruise right away, and the whole group accompanies them onboard for a farewell party. There, Sam secretly proposes to an overjoyed Marge, and then everyone bids Dodie and Neil goodbye. Pete is the last to leave, and when he passionately kisses her, Dodie once again feels the pink cloud and wonders if she has made the right choice. She kisses Neil to check, and after the kiss leaves her cold, she apologizes to him and hops into Pete’s boat, finally sure of who and what she wants.