Plot

Dancing teacher Anastacia "Stacie" Macaboy (Dame Elizabeth Taylor) falls in love with smart theatre agent Jud Parker (Larry Parks). He likes her too, just not enough to give up his exciting bachelor life. So she plans to set a trap for him.—Volker Boehm

New York talent agent Jud Parker and Anastacia Macaboy, who operates a children's dance studio in New Haven with her mother along with the assistance of the Levoys, another mother/daughter pair, are both a product of the worlds in which they live. When Jud first meets Staci in New Haven, he doesn't pursue her despite being attracted to her in his cynical, hardened but correct outlook that she is provincial - in his words, hokey - in leading a life with who he would probably consider her coddling parents. But without Staci's mother who has for the first time not attended due to a sprained ankle, Jud sees Staci in a different light when he runs into her during a week long trip she has to New York City to attend an annual dance instructor's convention. In Jud sweeping Staci off her feet for the entire week, Staci believes what they have is love, while he sees her solely in the vein of any casual woman he's dated, he not interested in a long term commitment with anyone. Understanding the male psyche better than his daughter, Staci's father Clinton Macaboy believes that underneath his tough exterior Jud truly loves Staci as well, Clinton who helps his daughter with a plan with some deceit in it to show Jud that this relationship is for the long haul.—Huggo

Broadway agent Jud Parker is perfectly happy with being single, living at the Astor Hotel and spending more time at Smittie's bar than his office. Jud refuses new clients because he does not want to work too hard and is annoyed when he has to go to New Haven for the dancing Dean Brothers. After quickly settling the Deans' dispute with a theater owner, Jud meets Anastacia Macaboy, a young woman who owns a dancing school and wants to buy one of the Deans' routines. Although Jud is attracted to "Staci,", he quickly leaves when she introduces her mother.

A few days later, Staci goes to New York to attend a conference for dance instructors, but her mother must stay home because of a sprained ankle. Staci intends to keep a close watch on the conniving Mrs. Levoy and her daughter, Pattie Marie, who are planning to start a competing dance school. When Staci runs into Jud in the elevator of the Astor, she accepts his invitation for lunch, then agrees to miss the convention's afternoon activities to see her first baseball game, in which Jud's beloved New York Giants are playing.

After dinner at 21 and a night of dancing, Staci is infatuated with Jud and spends the rest of the week seeing him instead of attending the convention. She ignores messages from her mother, who finally telephones Mrs. Levoy for information. During Staci's last night in New York, she confesses to Jud that she is in love with him and is shattered when he tells her he likes being single and thinks they should end things without "hearts and flowers." Although Staci tries to convince him otherwise, Mrs. Macaboy is waiting in Staci's room when they reach the Astor, she who sends Jud away.

Back in New Haven, the lovesick Staci cannot stop thinking about Jud. When she begins to use baseball terminology to explain the hopelessness of her situation, her impressed father offers advice, saying that she needs to find Jud's weakness. Some time later, one of Jud's pals gives him a New Haven newspaper containing an announcement of his engagement to Staci. Furious, Jud immediately goes to New Haven to confront her, and brings along his actor friend, Hamlet, who pretends to be his lawyer.

The contrite Macaboys swear that they had never dreamed the announcement would be seen in New York, and Staci explains their plan to stop the gossip being spread about her by the Levoys by announcing her engagement. Then, after the gossip died down, she would tell people that she broke the engagement because Jud did not want her to continue working. Jud is charmed by the embellishments of her plan and, after she lies that she no longer is in love with him, he offers to return the following week to help with the ruse.

When Jud returns, he spends the day with Staci and her mother, dutifully going Staci's dance school, and Staci tells everyone that they are getting married after the school's upcoming recital. That evening, Staci apologizes to Jud for how tough the day had been and starts to massage his shoulder. When she turns out the lights, however, and they start to kiss, Jud says that she is trying to trap him and they argue. After insisting that he likes the single life, she angrily calls him a "flesh peddler," and he walks out.

After a New York columnist questions whether the now-broken engagement was ever real, Staci finds that gossip has increased and many parents are taking their children out of her school. In desperation, she goes to see Jud at Smittie's, where he has been drinking alone, causing his friends to call him a "torchy guy." Staci explains that the gossip will not stop unless she is the one to break the engagement as originally planned. Instead of being sympathetic, Jud angrily tells her that he is now "stuck" on her and wants to get "unstuck" as soon as possible. Staci then proposes a wager: if the slumping Giants lose the game being played that day, he will come with her to the school's recital and stage their breakup fight; if the Giants win, she will never see him again. They watch the game on television, and the Giants win in the ninth inning. Staci then graciously admits defeat and goes home.

On the day of the recital, Jud shows up, claiming that he is no longer stuck on Staci. Mr. Macaboy tells Staci that Jud is there and advises her to "throw him a curve" if she wants to keep him. As the recital progresses, Staci seems too busy to talk with Jud and intimates that she is moving to Long Beach, California. As he tries to find out what she is talking about, he gets pushed onstage and falls through a trap door. When Staci finds him, he is angry, but tells her that she is going to marry him. After admitting to each other that they are both stuck, they kiss, to the delight of Mr. Macaboy.