Never a Dull Moment

When cowboy Chris Heyward (Fred MacMurray) sees sophisticated Broadway songwriter Kay Kingsley (Irene Dunne) during a benefit rodeo in New York City, he is immediately attracted to her. Friend and fellow rodeo rider Orvie (Andy Devine) pushes the reluctant Chris, who is a widower, into Kay's arms, and after a whirlwind romance, the two are married. The newlyweds then drive across country to Chris's Wyoming ranch, the Cougar Rock, where they are greeted by Chris's young daughters, Nan (Natalie Wood) and Tina (Gigi Perreau). They also encounter their more prosperous but cantankerous neighbor Mears (William Demarest), who controls Chris' water rights. No sooner does the exhausted couple settle in for the night, than they are dragged out of bed by boisterous well-wishers, anxious for a shivaree. Organizing the shivaree is Jean Morrow (Ann Doran), a widowed rancher who, until Kay, was Chris's romantic interest. Jean welcomes Kay without jealousy, however, and the shivaree is a great success until Kay cajoles Mears into dancing with her. An inexperienced dancer, Mears slips and falls into a piece of pie and roars out of the party, humiliated. Later, after only two hours of sleep, Kay and Chris are reawakened by Chris's chatty friends, who insist that the groom join them on a cougar hunt. At five, Kay is again stirred from her sleep by Nan and Tina. The children, who are wary of their new stepmother, inform Kay about all the ranch chores and then watch in horror as she dutifully but ineptly tries to accomplish them. Kay's uncomplaining perseverance soon wins the children over, but despite their support, Kay is overwhelmed by the day's work and fires their Indian cook for trying on her clothes. When Chris then returns with a dead cougar, asking that Kay cook dinner for his friends, Kay collapses in tears. Four months later, Kay is still struggling with her domestic chores when a windstorm hits, threatening to blow away the interior of her house. In the midst of the chaos, Jed (Philip Ober), her former collaborator, arrives and offers her a job writing a new show with him in New York. Tempted by the promise of easy money, with which she hopes to buy a water-rich ranch, Kay accepts Jed's deal. When Chris returns that night, exhausted from a hard day's work, however, Kay is unable to break the news and informs Jed that she has changed her mind. Soon after, Chris learns that the ranch's only source of water has dried up and determines to confront Mears about it. Before he does, Kay tricks Mears into agreeing to give them more water by threatening to sell the Cougar Rock to a neighboring dude ranch. Unaware of what his wife has done, Chris makes his demands, and is startled when Mears agrees to his terms without a fight. Elated by his apparent victory, Chris invites Kay to join his hunting group that night, but abandons her in the camp the next morning. As Kay angrily prepares breakfast for the men, she hears what she believes is a cougar in the bushes and shoots it. To her and Chris's dismay, her target was actually Mears' prize steer. Kay's error costs the ranch Mears' water, and soon she and Chris are arguing about their future together. When Chris refuses to allow Kay to buy a new ranch by composing a show, she leaves for New York by herself. While Chris returns to the rodeo circuit, Kay works with Jed, but finds she can only write songs with western themes. Eventually, Orvie, Tina and Nan force Chris to go see Kay and admit that he still loves and needs her. After she admits the same, the newlyweds are happily reunited.