At an apartment complex in Los Angeles, California, television production assistant Jeff Brooks attempts to convince the elderly Dixie Leonard to attend an awards ceremony honoring her work as a professional singer. When she remarks that she does not wish to see Eddie Sparks, her former musical partner, Jeff asks her to recall how they first met: At a studio recording session in 1942, Dixie receives a cable from the U.S. war department. Fearing bad news about her husband, a combat photographer stationed in North Africa, she embraces her four-year-old son, Danny, and asks the record producer to read the news aloud. Everyone in the studio is relieved to hear that the message is from Dixie’s uncle, Art Silver, inviting her to London, England, to sing at a United Service Organizations (USO) show with esteemed entertainer, Eddie Sparks. Dixie asks a friend to care for Danny, and leaves for England at Christmastime. On the night of the show, she worries about not having met or rehearsed with Eddie, but Art reminds her that she is a professional. Moments before going onstage, Dixie’s dress rips. As she frantically searches for a new costume, Eddie stalls by telling jokes. When she walks on in nothing but high heels and a captain’s jacket, his eyes widen. Dixie engages Eddie in an improvised comedy routine, further shocking him with her sexually explicit jokes. The soldiers, however, applaud wildly. As Dixie sings a solo, Eddie storms offstage, muttering his refusal to work with such a foul-mouthed woman. Just then, the power goes out. The soldiers urge Dixie to continue, and she walks through the audience singing a tender ballad. The power comes back on and she concludes her performance to thunderous applause. However, Eddie fires her the moment she walks offstage. Dixie is indignant, until other members of the band reassure her that Eddie only wants to assert his authority. They all go to a bar where Art convinces Eddie to redesign the act to focus on sparring with Dixie for comedic effect. Eddie likes the idea, and wins Dixie over by singing her an apology. Back in present day Los Angeles, Jeff Brooks interrupts Dixie’s reverie to ask if she and Eddie ever had a romantic relationship. Dixie reminds Jeff that she was married. Smiling, she remembers one of her and Eddie’s shows: After a year of polishing their act, Eddie and Dixie perform for troops in Algeria, Africa. In the middle of a comedy skit, Eddie calls Sergeant Michael Leonard to the stage. Surprised and overjoyed to see her husband, Dixie sings a sultry number, and the soldiers roar in approval as the couple kiss. Soon after, Michael is killed in combat. Eddie accompanies Dixie to the U.S. for the military funeral. When the war ends a few years later, they rebrand their act for television. In a New York City production studio in 1950, Dixie and Eddie prepare for the live broadcast of their hit show, The Bailey’s Comedy Hour. When Dixie exasperates producers with her provocative ad-libbing, Eddie asks what is on her mind, and she confides that she is worried about twelve-year-old Danny, who has been skipping school. Eddie, the father of three adolescent girls, offers to talk to the boy, but Dixie doubts his ability to provide prudent advice. On the air that night, Eddie announces that he and Dixie plan to resume their USO performances and visit the troops in Korea. When the curtain drops, Dixie admonishes him for surprising her with the news. She refuses to go, but Eddie changes her mind, reminding her that they will have the support of the television network’s staff and crew. They travel to Korea in December, arriving in the midst of an ambush. Distraught at the sight of the dead and wounded soldiers, Eddie asks Dixie to spend the night with him. However, in the morning, he pretends their intimate encounter was of no consequence. Dixie does not hide her disappointment. Following their performances in Korea, they meet up with their families in Japan. There, one of the network producers informs Eddie that Art Silver must be let go. Eddie sees no reason to fire their best comedy writer, until the producer suggests that Art is a communist. Though conflicted, Eddie approves the dismissal. Art causes a scene at Christmas dinner, mocking the network’s anti-communist allegiances. When Dixie angrily accuses Eddie of turning his back on a friend, Danny is horrified by his mother’s outburst, and refuses to leave the party with her. The image of her strong-willed son draws Dixie out of her reminiscence. She pours Jeff Brooks a drink and laments the events that followed that fateful Christmas dinner. Jeff looks at old entertainment magazines featuring headline stories about Dixie being dropped from the network. He asks if she regrets leaving television, but Dixie says no, and credits the incident with inspiring her to buy a jazz club in Hollywood. When Jeff asks if she was able to repair her relationship with her son, Dixie’s thoughts drift back to the mid-1960s: After surveying the full house at her elegant nightclub, Dixie greets Art Silver at the bar. He reveals that he has been talking to Eddie about writing the entertainer’s upcoming tour of Vietnam. Just then, Eddie walks into the club. Dixie frowns, realizing they want her to be part of the act. She turns to leave, but Eddie shows her a handful of letters from Danny, whom Dixie has not seen since his graduation from military college. Her eyes tear up as Eddie describes a plan to visit the young man, now a soldier fighting in Vietnam. In time, she and Eddie fly to a U.S. Army base. Dixie cries at the sight of her son, and he embraces her. She senses something is wrong, and Danny confides that the war effort is not going well, and many of his fellow officers are suffering psychological duress. At the show that night, the brutish soldiers heckle the performers, but they grow quiet when Dixie sings. Suddenly, the camp is ambushed. Dixie crawls to safety, but Danny is killed in the attack. After returning to the U.S. to bury her son, Dixie banishes Eddie from her life. Jeff Brooks is stunned by the story. He calls his colleagues at the network and insists that reuniting Dixie and Eddie on live television, even if in the context of an awards ceremony, is a bad idea. When he hangs up, however, Dixie emerges from her room dressed in an evening gown. They rush to the studio where she confronts Eddie about Danny’s death. Her honesty upsets him, and he storms out of his dressing room. When the awards show host announces their names, Eddie walks onstage alone. As he recounts all the wars he visited as an entertainer, and chokes back tears at the mention of Vietnam, Dixie lets go of her anger and joins him onstage. The producers breathe a sigh of relief as the elderly couple amuses the audience with witty jokes, a soft-shoe dance, and a song.