When Phil Corey's band arrives at the Idaho ski resort its pianist Ted Scott is smitten with a Norwegian refugee he has sponsored, Karen Benson. When soloist Vivian Dawn quits, Karen stages an ice show as a substitute.
When famed Idaho ski resort Sun Valley puts out a call for a band to back up singer Vivian Dawn, Phil Corey takes his band, the Dartmouth Troubadors, to the audition in New York City. Vivian throws a temper tantrum after bandleader Jimmy Norton plays an arrangement not to her liking, and Phil steps in. Phil's piano player, Ted Scott, quickly becomes enamoured of the singer, and makes a date with her after the band is engaged by Sun Valley's agent, Jack Murray. While the band members and their publicist, Jerome K. "Nifty" Allen, are congratulating each other, they receive a telegram announcing that the war refugee they volunteered to sponsor will be arriving soon. Ted, whose name Nifty put on the application, is angry, for it was only to be a publicity stunt, but the band members decide to pitch in and care for the refugee, whom they assume will be a small child. When they go to Ellis Island to greet their ward, however, they find Karen Benson, an adult Norwegian woman who had to flee her homeland after her father was killed. Karen, grateful for Ted's sponsorship, decides that she will return the favor by marrying him, but he tries to dampen her romantic aspirations. When Karen finds out that the band will be traveling to Sun Valley while she is to be sent to Nifty's aunt for safekeeping, she asks Nifty to sneak her aboard the train to Idaho. Nifty, who has a crush on Karen, reluctantly agrees, and upon reaching Sun Valley, Karen surprises Ted with her skiing expertise. Ted loves to ski and, disappointed that Vivian will not ski with him, is happy to have Karen as a partner. Vivian grows jealous though, and one evening, surprises everyone at dinner by announcing that she has decided to accept Ted's standing marriage proposal. Karen is crushed but devises a scheme to win Ted over when the two of them begin to ski down from the restaurant to the lodge below. By knocking his skiis down the mountain and then pretending that she has hurt her knee, Karen contrives for them to spend the evening in an emergency cabin. By the time Phil, Vivian and Nifty arrive with the ski patrol to rescue them, Ted has figured out Karen's scheme. He has also realized that he does love the persistent Norwegian, and when Vivian delivers an ultimatum to choose between the two of them, Ted chooses Karen. Vivian storms out as Ted dances with Karen, and later, the Dartmouth Troubadors are the hit of Sun Valley when they accompany Karen in an ice-skating extravaganza.
