伊丽莎白(芭芭拉·斯坦威克 Barbara Stanwyck 饰)在《聪明家政》杂志上拥有自己的专栏,每周,她都会在专栏里分享自己烹饪、养娃、打理农场的心得。人人都以为伊丽莎白是一个成功的家庭主妇,拥有幸福美满的家庭,可实际上,现实里的伊丽莎白住在位于纽约的一间狭小的单身公寓中,每天过着混乱而又苍白的生活。而她所有的关于家政的知识,都来源于她的好友菲利克斯(S·Z·萨考尔 S.Z. Sakall 饰)。 一天,一位护士联系上了伊丽莎白的老板亚德里(西德尼·格林斯垂特 Sydney Greenstreet 饰),希望亚德里能够将一名战功赫赫的军人安排到伊丽莎白的农场里过圣诞节,对于杂志社来说,这是一个好消息,但对于伊丽莎白来说,这意味着她的全部谎言有可能被揭穿。Journalist Elizabeth Lane is one of the country's most famous food writers. In her columns, she describes herself as a hard working farm woman, taking care of her children and being an excellent cook. But this is all lies. In reality she is an unmarried New Yorker who can't even boil an egg. The recipes come from her good friend Felix. The owner of the magazine she works for has decided that a heroic sailor will spend his Christmas on *her* farm. Miss Lane knows that her career is over if the truth comes out, but what can she do?