The Major and The Minor - Plot

Plot

After her client Albert Osborne (Robert Benchley) makes a pass at her, Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) quits her job as a scalp massager for the Revigorous System and decides to leave New York City and return home to Stevenson, Iowa. Upon arriving at the train station, she discovers she has only enough money to cover a child's fare, so she disguises herself as a twelve-year-old girl named Su-Su. When a suspicious conductor catches her smoking, Su-Su takes refuge in the compartment of Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland) who, believing she is a frightened child, agrees to let her stay with him until they reach his stop.

When the train is detained by flooding on the tracks, Philip's fiancée Pamela Hill (Rita Johnson) and her father, his commanding officer at the military academy where he teaches, drive to meet him. Pamela boards the train and finds Su-Su sleeping in the lower berth in his compartment. Imagining the worst, she accuses Philip of being unfaithful and reports his alleged infidelity to her father. Indignant, and still feeling protective of Su-Su, Philip insists on bringing her to the school where her parents can retrieve her. The Hills, meeting Su-Su in person and now believing that she is only 12 years old, agree to let her stay with them.

Pamela's teenaged sister Lucy (Diana Lynn) immediately sees through Susan's disguise. She promises to keep her secret if Susan will help her sabotage Pamela's efforts to keep Philip at the academy instead of allowing him to fulfill his wish to be assigned to active duty. Pretending to be Pamela, Susan calls one of Pamela's Washington, D.C. connections and arranges to have Philip's status changed.

Susan becomes popular with the young students, especially cadet Clifford Osborne, unaware he is the son of the client who prompted her to quit her job. When the elder Osborne visits the school, he recognizes Susan and reveals her identity to Pamela, who threatens to expose her and Philip and create a public scandal unless Susan leaves immediately.

Susan returns home, but continues to fantasize about Philip, much to the dismay of her fiancé Will Duffy (Richard Fiske). When Philip stops to visit her on his way to California to report for active duty, she pretends to be her own mother and Philip leaves without learning the truth. After discovering Pamela has married someone else, Susan rushes to the train station and confesses her deception, and she and Philip decide to marry in Nevada while en route to the West Coast and embarkation for overseas service.