New York adman Jim Blandings is ready to say goodbye to his cramped city apartment and build from the ground up a Connecticut home with room enough for his growing family and dreams. All it will cost him is his time and money...and perhaps his job, marriage, happiness and what's left of his sanity.

Goodbye, Manhattan, Hello, comedy. As Jim, Cary Grant is a flustered poster boy for homeowner anxiety in this gleeful laughfest. Myrna Loy, her voice and line phrasing like musical chimes, plays Jim's ever-patient wife. Louise Beavers is the sunny housemaid whose enthusiasm for Wham Ham saves Jim's career bacon. And Melvyn Douglas is the perhaps too friendly family friend. "Drop in and see us sometime," Jim says. Invitation accepted!

It all begins when a darling smart New York City couple, played winningly by Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, decide it's time pack up their two girls and leave their jaded tiny Manhattan dwelling to build a dreamy get away in rural Connecticut. This bright comedy, directed by H.C. Potter and produced by RKO, goes on to explore in detail the harsh realities of keeping their dream alive. Not only are the Blandings besieged with local tradesman who keep upping their rates, but Cary Grant's character, Jim, is under a deadline to come up for a slogan to sell ham for his add agency, and could potentially lose his job. Under stress, he begins to suspect his wife is secretly in love with their friend and lawyer, Bill Cole. Eventually the decision to build a home outlives all logic and ends happily. The script, which is based on a novel by Eric Hodgins, is sly and confident and the performances are fast and light, making this middle-class adventure intrinsically American.