Our Miss Brooks

Miss Constance Brooks, the new English teacher at Madison High School, looks through the newspaper want ads for rooms to rent. After finding an ad placed by Mrs. Margaret Davis, Connie proceeds to the address listed and rings the doorbell. Instead of answering the door, however, the elderly Mrs. Davis mistakenly answers the phone in her foyer. Connie can hear Mrs. Davis speaking into the phone and so has a conversation with her from the front porch. After Mrs. Davis invites Connie to visit, Connie knocks on the door and Mrs. Davis, surprised at her promptness, welcomes her. With the approval of the resident cat Minerva, Mrs. Davis rents the room to Connie. As an afterthought, Mrs. Davis points out the view from a window, which reveals a rundown but charming cottage for sale. Seeing the property's romantic potential, Connie fantasizes about the man who will buy it. Later, at school, Connie meets a student, Fabian "Stretch" Snodgrass, who shows her the campus, but when she sees the handsome biology teacher, Phil Boynton, working out with barbells on the lawn, Connie decides to continue sightseeing on her own. While introducing herself to the bashful teacher, Connie imagines how he would look in front of the cottage. Osgood Conklin, the domineering principal, then walks up and reminds them that teacher "fraternizing" is prohibited. Over the following months, Connie and Phil go on frequent dates, but only to the zoo. Oblivious to Connie's romantic frustration, Phil contemplates the mating habits of beasts and admits that he occasionally thinks about marrying. In class, Connie cannot reach a bright but failing student, Gary Nolan, and so visits Gary's widowed father Lawrence, a busy newspaper owner. When Larry accuses Connie of being incompetent, she retorts by calling him a stuffed shirt. Soon Connie realizes that Gary, who is surrounded by everything money can buy, needs his father's attention, and agrees to tutor him at the Nolan home. One day, Phil confesses to Mrs. Davis that he is saving money and hopes for a promotion so that he can marry Connie. Although she promises to not reveal his plans, Mrs. Davis later pretends to read Connie's fortune in the cards and "foretells" of a marriage proposal being postponed until there is economic security. Mr. Stone, the head of the board of education, who is campaigning for the post of coordinator of education, criticizes Osgood's military style and threatens to fire him after he is elected. To avoid what he considers "a dishonorable discharge," Osgood decides to campaign against Stone and, by promising to promote Phil if he is elected, enlists Connie as his campaign manager. Connie gets whole-hearted cooperation from the students when she reveals her campaign slogan, "Get Mr. Conklin into public office and out of Madison." During tutoring sessions, Connie assigns Gary to write stories for the school paper and Larry encourages Gary by printing some of his articles in the town newspaper. Grateful to Connie for Gary's improvement, Larry becomes romantically drawn to her. When the Nolans invite her to sail on their yacht, Connie agrees to go, after Phil, feeling neglected, jealously breaks his date with her. While on the yacht, Connie considers Larry as a suitor and briefly daydreams about how he would look standing in front of the cottage, but the fantasy does not seem right. To assist Phil and Connie's failing romance, Mrs. Davis suggests to Phil that Connie is "in jeopardy" from Larry, whom she describes as a "suave operator." Borrowing an old jalopy from student Walter Denton, Phil drives to the beach and then rows out to save her, but falls in the water near the yacht. After Larry pulls him to safety, Phil discovers that Gary is aboard. Realizing that Connie is on a family outing and not at the mercy of a lecherous playboy, Phil admits he feels "ridiculous." Soon after, Osgood rows up. Having learned from Walter, his daughter's boyfriend, that Connie knows the powerful newspaperman, he is eager to request Larry's help in publicizing his campaign. Osgood also falls in the lake and is rescued, after which Larry agrees to help Osgood, because it would involve working with Connie. That evening, Phil admits to Connie that he has nothing to offer her in comparison with the wealthy Larry. When Connie suggests, "the best defense is a good offense," Phil thinks for a minute, then kisses her passionately. Later, Phil is called out of town to see his ailing mother. The doctor tells him that Mrs. Boynton suffers a psychosomatic illness caused by loneliness. Back in Madison, Phil, who lives in a tiny bachelor apartment, goes house hunting. Connie is at the realtor paying a bill for Mrs. Davis, when Phil calls about the cottage. Overhearing the realtor mention "Mrs. Boynton," Connie assumes that a marriage proposal is forthcoming and takes samples of wallpaper to the cottage, where she fantasizes about married life. When Phil arrives, she learns, to her dismay, that he bought the house for his mother and she leaves in tears. After hearing about Connie's plight, Mrs. Davis visits Mrs. Boynton, with whom she has often played canasta, and tells her about Phil and Connie. Due to Larry's help, Osgood is leading at the polls, but he resigns when he learns that the salary of the new position pays only $500 a year. Later, Mrs. Boynton visits Mrs. Davis at her home and explains to Connie that the shy Phil rarely talked about his feelings for Connie, and consequently she knew little about their romance until Mrs. Davis told her. After explaining her feelings of loneliness, which prompted Phil to bring her to town, she says she is moving in with Mrs. Davis, so that Connie and Phil can live in the cottage. Touched by Phil's kindness to his mother, Connie seeks him out at the zoo. Seeing Connie, Phil imagines how she will look in front of the cottage and they decide to marry.