Are These Our Parents

Terry Salisbury, a student at a fashionable girl's boarding school, resents the neglect of her mother Myra, a thrice-married successful businesswoman. Feeling rebellious, Terry sneaks away from school one evening to visit a roadhouse with Jimmy, an acquaintance. When the club is raided by juvenile authorities led by officer Clint Davis, Terry jumps into a parked car and speeds away with the police in pursuit. After losing the officers on a country road, Terry's car runs out of gas and she abandons it. Hitchhiking, Terry is offered a ride by Hal Bailey, an honor student and diligent employee at a local garage. At the Salisbury mansion, meanwhile, Myra is entertaining Commissioner John Seldon in hopes of convincing him to put a pipeline through some property she owns. Arriving home just as the commissioner is leaving, Terry begs her mother to allow her to remain there, but impervious to her daughter's pain, Myra instead asks her business partner, George Kent, to find a new boarding school for her. Hal, meanwhile, is met at the door of his house by his father Sam, an aircraft executive, who claims that he is on his way to solve a problem at the plant. After Mona Larson, Sam's date, phones to inquire why he is late, however, Hal realizes that his father lied to him. When Sam returns home drunk later that evening, Hal accuses him of lying, and Sam admits that he has been neglecting work for the race track. The following morning at the Salisbury house, Terry meets violinist Alexis Dolan, a former lover of her mother's, who has come to interest Myra in financing his new nightclub. At the garage, meanwhile, Clint visits Hal to enlist his help in identifying the girl who fled from the roadhouse the previous evening. When Hal protects Terry's identity, Clint hands him a compact that the police found outside the club and asks him to return it to its owner. Delighted at the opportunity to see Terry again, Hal takes the compact to the Salisbury house, and Terry asks him to drive her to the Red Cross office the following day. Meanwhile, at the nightclub, Alexis is flirting with Myra in hopes of cajoling some money from her. Interrupting their rendezvous, the jealous Kent escorts Myra home and informs Alexis that he plans to close the club. After they leave, Meg, an innocent girl spurned by Alexis, tearfully visits and Alexis promises to marry her. That night at the Bailey home, Sam and Mona drunkenly celebrate their recent win at the race track. When Hal lashes out at them, Sam coldly informs him that they were wed that afternoon. The next day, Hal confides his troubles to Terry on their drive to the Red Cross office. After Hal drops her off, Terry sneaks into Alexis' nightclub, but he insists that she return home. When Kent realizes that Terry has been with Alexis, he threatens to kill him. Questioned by her mother, Terry defiantly accuses her of jealousy and declares that she plans to marry Alexis. That night, at the club's opening, Meg's father, the magician known as the Great Gaspar, is a featured performer. Before he goes on stage, Meg tells her father that she intends to marry Alexis and then breaks down in tears. Outside the club, Hal watches in puzzlement as Terry sneaks in the door to Alexis' dressing room. Upon finding Terry in his room, Alexis orders her to leave. At that moment, Hal bursts in and slugs Alexis. When Alexis pulls out a gun to defend himself, Terry struggles with him and the weapon goes off, apparently killing Alexis. Believing that they are guilty of murder, Hal and Terry flee the club and go into hiding. Witnesses testify that they saw Hal and Terry run out of the club, and a warrant is issued for their arrest. Too late, Sam becomes concerned about the well-being of his son, causing the selfish Mona to leave him. After both the press and Clint condemn Hal's and Terry's parents for the sins of their children, Myra becomes distraught over the plight of her daughter. The manhunt continues for Hal and Terry, who have taken refuge at a farm owned by the kindly Ma and Pa Henderson. Nourished by the considerate Hendersons, Hal and Terry confess the truth to them. Shortly after, Clint arrives at the farm, having been notified by the Hendersons that Hal and Terry were there. After informing the children that Gaspar confessed to shooting and killing Alexis, Clint ushers in their now-loving parents.