A World War II veteran's marriage of convenience threatens his real wedding plans.

Returning from four years of war, soldier John Lawrence telephones his girl friend Mary McKinley to announce that he will be with her in New York City that afternoon. Mary buys champagne and caviar and ecstatically waits for his arrival. Before then, Fred Taylor, who saved John's life during the war, appears at Mary's with a suit of civilian clothes for him. Fred has been a civilian for the past two years, so when John finally arrives, the two friends talk over old times. When Mary leaves the room, John tells Fred that while he was in London, he discovered that Fred's English girl friend, Lilly Herbish, whom he thought had been killed in the blitz, is still alive. John explains that because of the immigrant quota, Lilly would not have been able to come to the United States for several years, but as a soldier's wife, she could immigrate immediately, so, wanting to help the man who saved his life, John married her. Although Fred appears to be more disturbed than grateful, John continues to outline his plan for Fred and Lilly to proceed to Reno, where Lilly will divorce him and marry Fred. After Fred leaves, John starts to carefully break the news to Mary, but is interrupted by the unexpected return of her parents, Senator James McKinley and his wife Phyllis. John asks McKinley for permission to marry Mary, but is nonplussed when the senator insists that they hold the wedding immediately. Later, a bemused Fred returns to the McKinley apartment, and once again, John starts to explain the situation, but before he can complete his story, he inadvertently learns that Fred is married, and his wife is expecting a baby. Privately, John and Fred then hatch a plot that will allow John to postpone his marriage to Mary until he can be divorced from Lilly. Fred asks their former lieutenant, Victor O'Leary, who is now working as a theater usher, to put on his old uniform and pretend to order John to proceed to Nevada for sixty days to finish some Army business. O'Leary accepts a payment of fifty dollars to cooperate with the plan. He then leeringly tells Fred that he too had dated Lilly but devised a scheme to avoid marrying her. The next day, at the McKinley apartment, O'Leary carries out his part of the plan, but Mary is so distraught at the thought of postponing the wedding that she insists that her father get John released from his assignment. When John protests that he will not accept special favors, Mary's feelings are hurt and she leaves the apartment with her parents. While they are gone, Lilly arrives and soon learns that Fred is already married. Meanwhile, Mary has asked General Biddle to act on John's behalf. When John again refuses to relinquish his assignment, Mary is convinced that he does not love her and breaks their engagement. Finally, after more complications, John blurts out the entire story. Lilly reveals that she had married O'Leary, but received a letter that purported to be from his mother explaining that he had been killed. She is reunited with an unwilling O'Leary, and John, whose marriage to Lilly turns out to be not legal, is free to marry Mary.