Stephen Herrick, the managing partner of San Francisco based Herrick and Martin Inc., a shipping company, is straight-laced and likes to remain inconspicuous, which often does not sit well with his overbearing socialite fiancée of two years Cecilia Grange and her even more overbearing mother in they wanting what they want or feel they deserve in their sense of entitlement, regardless of how it looks to others. When his regular secretary takes an unexpected leave, Stephen is forced to hire someone from the steno pool to replace her temporarily. The girl recommended is Dot Duncan, whom he almost does not hire, as she is the woman, who with her family, are the people with who he, Cecilia, and Mrs. Grange got into a verbal altercation at a symphony performance the night before. However, he does hire her upon her heartfelt and sincere apology and the fact that she knows the business inside out. Concurrently, Dot's boyfriend, Claudius Cup - Coffee Cup in more casual circumstances - arrives in town, having just completed his last stint as a navy gunner. Despite the pressure from one of his senior officers to reenlist, Coffee Cup has every intention of leaving the navy to marry Dot when he can raise enough money for the wedding ring and to pay for the wedding ceremony, despite it meaning giving up all the girls he has in every port that populate his little black book. By chance, Stephen ends up spending time with Dot and Coffee Cup socially, sometimes in part in Coffee Cup's misadventures in trying to earn that money to buy Dot's ring and for the wedding ceremony. In the process, Stephen begins to loosen up, befriends Coffee Cup, but more importantly starts to fall for Dot, who also ends up being attracted to her boss. The question then become what Stephen and Dot are going to do about their feelings for each other, especially considering their affection for Coffee Cup.
—Huggo