On Christmas Eve Jim
Hardy (Bing Crosby), prepares to give his last performance as part of a musical
act popular in the New York City nightlife scene with Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire),
and Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale).
After the show he and
Lila were going to marry and then retire to a farm in Connecticut.
At the last minute,
Lila decides she is not ready to stop performing, and says that she has fallen
in love with Ted and plans to stay on as Ted's dancing partner.
Heartbroken Jim
follows through with his plan and bids the act and the treacherous pair
goodbye.
On Christmas Eve one
year later, Jim is back in New York City, farm life had proven more difficult
than he expected and he was planning to turn his farm into an entertainment
venue instead which will only be open on holidays called “Holiday Inn.
Ted and his agent
Danny Reed (Walter Abel) scoff at the plan, but wish him luck.
While ordering flowers
for Lila, at the airport flower shop, Danny is accosted by employee Linda Mason
(Marjorie Reynolds) who recognizes him as a talent agent.
Danny brushes her off
and refers her to Holiday Inn and gives her a pass to Ted's club.
That night, Linda sits
with Jim and they spin each other a yarn, he says he owns a big club and she
says she’s a celebrity friend of Ted Hanover.
Linda arrives at
Holiday Inn on Christmas morning where she meets Jim and they both realised
they had been fooling each other the previous evening.
They take to one another
immediately as Jim is preparing the place for New Year's Eve, and he sings her
his new song, “White Christmas”.
In New York City
Meanwhile, Ted learns that Lila is leaving him for a Texas millionaire.
He gets completely
drunk and turns up at Holiday Inn to talk with Jim but ends up performing a
dazzling dance with Linda to great acclaim.
Over the following
months Jim and Linda fall in love while Ted tries desperately to find his
mystery dance partner.
Jim is determined that
he should not and as one Holiday follows another he becomes more and more
desperate in his attempt to keep Linda for himself that he ends up pushing her
into Ted’s grasp.
He spent a lonely
Thanksgiving with the Inn closed and was deeply depressed, Linda was in
California with Ted making a movie based on Holiday Inn, unable to eat the
turkey dinner prepared for him by his housekeeper Mamie (Louise Beavers).
In the end Mamie
begged him to travel to Hollywood to win Linda back by telling her exactly how
he felt about her.
Jim arrived at the
studio on Christmas Eve, there was just one scene left to film and then Ted was
taking Linda away to get married.
Jim confronted Ted in
his dressing room the pair of them locked him in a closet but he managed to
turn the tables on them and locked Ted and Danny in.
The final scene for
the movie featured a faithful recreation of Holiday Inn,
Jim is shown around
the set by the director when he is left alone Jim leaves his pipe on the set's
piano and hides nearby.
When Linda entered the
room she sat at the piano, and performed “White Christmas” but when she noticed
the pipe on the piano, her voice faltered, and when she continued Jim's voice
joined hers.
Jim appeared from his
hiding place and Linda ran to him.
As the director yelled
“cut” Ted and Danny burst onto the set, but they are too late.
On New Year's Eve, at
Holiday Inn, Ted is reunited with Lila and they reprise their partnership.
While Jim and Linda
prepare to stay together and run the Inn.
