New York columnist Ike Graham elaborates, for once without full-fact checking, the story he heard from a bar-mate about small-town Maryland girl Maggie Carpenter, who left several grooms at the altar, taking off without warning or serious reason. Fearing a legal case from Maggie, Ike's editor and ex Ellie fires him. Staff buddy Fisher cues Ike to seek his job back (or earn another) by attempting to prove the alleged inaccuracies and/or writing a priceless follow-up piece. So his sports-car heads for her home in Hale, Maryland, where she runs a garage and designs glassware. His charm and journalistic nose get everyone to open up and reveal her embarrassing past before she can swear people to silence, from her family and three dumped grooms to her overconfident present groom, high-school coach Bob Kelly. In the process, Maggie finds hating Ike tempting but difficult, while Ike develops a strange appreciation for the maverick, until even Bob sees reason to get jealous.