When Judge James K. Hardy gets a letter from an old friend, Dora Northcote, explaining she and her husband Bill may lose their ranch because an adjacent rancher won't renew their water lease contract, he takes his family with him to alleviate their frustrations at home. His wife Emily is upset with spring cleaning, Andy has quarreled with his girlfriend, Polly Benedict, while Marian similarly quarreled with her boyfriend, Dennis Hunt. But at the ranch, new problems arise. Judge Hardy invests heavily in some adjacent property to help the Northcotes and may lose it all, Marian falls in love with the older foreman, Ray Holt, even though she's not ready for marriage, and Andy's showing off causes a prize horse of Ray's 8-year-old daughter, 'Jake', to break a leg. Things look bleak for the Hardys, but not for long.
