Ted Hartley, an assistant manager in one of his father's chains of hostelries, has his heart in his music and not his job. When his father, T. C. Hartley, returns home from a trip to find Ted in the basement with several hotel employees who have been recruited into his band, he fires the band on the spot and sends Ted to Hawaii to learn the hotel business. Ted takes the band with him to Hawaii, where he wangles a booking from Fothering, the manager of the Hawaiian Hartley hotel. When T. C. vetoes his son's performance, Ted and the band face unemployment until Lonnie Lane, the daughter of a rival hotel owner, offers them room and board at her father's failing Island Lodge Hotel in return for free performances. To introduce the band, they plan a gala opening and invite Alonzo Dilman, the pineapple king. In the midst of the excitement, Lonnie's father Frank returns home and tells his daughter that he has arranged to sell the Island Lodge to T. C. The deal sours when Dilman, the chairman of the Hartley board, rejects the plan, prompting T. C. to fly to Hawaii. When T. C. learns that his son is the star attraction at the Island Lodge, he threatens to call off the deal, but Lonnie insists that the show must go on. In response, T. C. tears up the agreement. After Ted's swing hula wins Dilman's enthusiastic approval, however, he insists on signing them to broadcast from the Island Lodge, thus forcing T. C. to offer the Lanes more favorable terms and acknowledge his son's musical career.
