A schoolgirl has a crush on a French teacher, debates US foreign policy in 1928, and goes to the prom with her father.
Margie MacDuff (Jeanne Crain) tells her daughter Joyce (Ann Todd) about her era. In 1928 Margie in high school borrows a safety pin from Marybelle (Barbara Lawrence) to repair her bloomers. In the library Margie meets the French teacher Fontayne (Glenn Langan). Margie walks home with Roy Hornsdale (Alan Young) and explains she lives with her Grandma McSweeney (Esther Dale) rather than her father. Grandma tells Roy how she chained herself at the White House and was arrested for woman suffrage. She says Margie may be President, but Margie gets upset. She tries to study but hears music from Marybelle's room next door. Margie practices her speech silently, and the maid Cynthia (Hattie McDaniel) comes in. Margie sings "I'll See You In My Dreams" and goes to bed.
In the cafeteria Fontayne speaks to Margie but sits with the librarian, Miss Palmer (Lynn Bari). Roy is sitting with Margie and is jealous that she has a crush on a teacher. Margie's Grandma is coming to her debate, and Margie stops by the mortuary and leaves a message for her father, Angus MacDuff (Hobart Cavanaugh). Marybelle and Johnny (Conrad Janis) leave the debate, but Fontayne arrives late and makes them go back in. Margie argues that the US Marines should be taken out of Nicaragua because freedom is more valuable than selling Nicaragua plumbing.
Margie helps Roy ice skate. Angus MacDuff says that Margie is right that the Marines should come home. Grandma disapproves of Marybelle's bare legs, but Fontayne does not. Margie skates with Johnny, loses her bloomers again, and hurts her ankle. Fontayne gives her first aid and calls on her later. Roy can't go to the prom, and Grandma asks Angus to take his daughter Margie. Margie takes a bath and puts on a new dress. Fontayne stops by, and Margie accepts the corsage he is carrying. Margie and Cynthia assume that he is her date to the prom. Margie is disappointed to learn that he just stopped by to bring her French grade. At the window Margie tells Marybelle that she is not going with a teacher. Angus arrives, and Mary goes to the prom with him. Fontayne arrives with Miss Palmer. Margie dances with Angus and then with Fontayne. Johnny does the Charleston with Margie, who stops and pretends to faint. Marybelle is jealous. In the final scene Fontayne tells his wife Margie and their daughter that MacDuff was confirmed as ambassador to Nicaragua.
This nostalgic comedy comments on US imperialism and
shows how a woman with brains can attract a handsome man.