Harry Lambert is a New England lumber company executive in a humdrum life with his wife Edith. He feels his life has grown stale since his recent defeat in an election for town mayor. Adding to his frustrations, the mayor who defeated him in the election is a neighbour. His adult daughter Kate is of little or no help to anybody; she and her husband Charlie live with Harry and Edith, and Charlie lives a freeloader's life, working at the lumber company. Bothered by unexplained fatigue, Edith is persuaded by her friend Grace (
Jane Wyatt) to go see a doctor. Edith learns she is pregnant. Her daughter Kate wishes
she were also pregnant. Kate begins pressuring her husband Charlie to get her pregnant, without success. Harry doesn't want to be a father again at his age; in his sixties, he worries that he will be in his eighties when the child graduates from college, leaving him embarrassed and feeling foolish. He also complains about Edith's spending, particularly after a misjudged prank by Charlie and himself insulting the mayor leads to their losing a lumber supply contract for a new stadium. Despite his many complaints, Harry is genuinely taken aback when Edith announces she is leaving him to move to Boston and have the baby by herself. Harry pursues Edith to bring her back, while Charlie finally comes through by winning back the stadium contract. ==Cast==