Farmer Milt Dominy (Henry Hull) and his son Daniel (Lon McCallister), who is called "Snug", commiserate with each other about their loathing of Judith (Anne Revere), Milt's second wife, and her brutish son Stretch (Robert Karnes). Milt decides to return to the sea while Snug takes a job as a hired hand with a neighboring farmer, Robert "Roarer" McGill (Tom Tully), with whose daughter, Rad (June Haver), he is in love, although the daughter gets her kicks out of keeping him guessing about her true feelings. Her father neither encourages nor endorses the courtship.