The Footloose Heiress

Kay Allyn, madcap daughter of advertising magnate John C. Allyn, calls her father to announce that she is going to marry Jack Pierson. While she, Jack and his sister Linda race to find a justice of the peace before midnight in order to win a $5,000 bet, Allyn races from work to stop the marriage, but they are all stopped by a train. While a hobo riding beneath the cars watches in amusement, Kay and her father quarrel from either side of the train. Kay turns the car around to look for a judge in another direction, and her father is almost injured when he tries to follow. The hobo, Bruce Baeder, known as Butch, prevents Allyn from falling and offers to accompany him as he chases Kay. When they are stopped by the police for speeding, Butch lets Allyn talk to them while he takes matters into his own hands. Bursting into the justice's home, he stops the marriage by claiming that Kay is his wife. Furious at first, Kay decides to play along with the gag in order to irritate her father. He is indeed upset when she invites Butch to her room. Butch explains her motives to Allyn, convincing him to go along with her joke. At first Kay orders Butch from her room and finally begs him to go. Having reduced her to tears, Butch leaves. Allyn is amazed that someone got the best of his daughter and allows Butch to spend the night in an apartment over the garage. The next morning, Kay is still determined to get married, but she is temporarily stopped because Butch has removed the motor from her car. Nonetheless, she insists that she and Jack will be married after a party that evening. Pretending to be Allyn, Butch calls the newspapers announcing Kay's secret marriage to Bruce Baeder. That evening he attends the party where everyone congratulates Kay on her marriage. Once properly dressed, Butch looks very handsome, and Kay falls in love with him, despite her plans to humiliate him. Returning to the Allyns', Butch helps Allyn design a radio ad for an oil company. In the course of their efforts, Allyn discovers that Butch is the son of an East Coast advertising executive. Out of spite, Kay calls Mr. Baeder, who denies his son's existence. Furious, Butch decides to return to riding the rails. Because she loves him and knows he will not accept money, Kay asks the chauffeur to sneak some money into his jacket pocket. Meanwhile, the oil company executives love the new ad and order several more to be delivered in a few days. Now both Kay and her father want Butch to come back. When he refuses, Kay reports that he has stolen money from them. After he is arrested, Kay tells the judge the truth. Exasperated, the sheriff puts them all in jail while he goes fishing. During the evening, Butch finishes the new ad scripts. Kay sweet-talks the sheriff's wife into giving her the keys to the jail and releases Butch. When he tells her he intends to return to Boston and confront his father, she hops the train with him, knowing that they will really wed this time.