... otherwise he'd be down on the beach in a hole in the sand with a barrel over his head, never wondering if this is a good plan for a human being.
John Murdock (Henry Fonda) is a 1890s lumberjack who gets wanderlust by watching "wild geese calling" as they fly past in formation. He goes to Seattle looking for his old pal and partner in wanderlust, Blackie (Warren William) but finds he's moved on. He meets and marries a dance hall girl, Sally (Joan Bennett). Then Blackie returns and convinces John to go with him to Alaska to start a fishing business. That's not hard since John starts hearing those "wild geese calling" once again. Sally doesn't want to go because she had hoped to use the money they saved on a homestead not a boat. But she also doesn't like being around Blackie because they were once an item and she's afraid John would not understand if he found out about this past relationship. She'd be right.
Henry Fonda is playing a most unlikeable character here. Without evidence he believes his wife is making a fool out of him. With evidence John doesn't catch on that Blackie is using his wanderlust to get his own way. I really liked Warren William as the nuanced cad Blackie. William had been in some really bad films after the production code began, and although this was definitely a supporting role it was a meaty one.
Note that this film is a bit of a production code buster, as you have shots of a man and wife sleeping in the same bed. But then twin beds in wild Alaska pioneer days would have looked silly. There is also a murderer who goes unpunished, although who that murderer was is made deliberately unclear. So kudos to whoever is responsible for running circles around the censors. It was a breath of fresh air.
