At a San Francisco movie theater, just before the premiere of a new film, Air Force Sgt. Mike Nolan talks his way backstage where celebrities have congregated, claiming that the shy friend with him, Cpl. Rick Williams, is the hometown boyfriend of Nell Wayne, the film’s rising star. In truth, the embarrassed Rick has never met Nell, although his father was the Wayne family’s dentist and Rick drank many chocolate malts at her father’s soda shop. Movie stars Doris Day and Ruth Roman see through Mike’s story, but invite Mike and Rick to stay, and when Nell shows up, she also generously overlooks their intrusion. After Mike tells them that they must leave that evening, implying that he and Rick are being sent to the Korean front to fight, the women decide to drive to Travis Air Force Base to see them off. Dressed for their premiere, the women are passed into the base by a chaplain and introduced to Col. Callan, who gives them a tour. Upon seeing the terminal where servicemen spend long, stressful hours waiting for a plane to take them to the war, Doris mounts a makeshift stage and entertains the men by singing along with a jukebox. Before Mike and Rick leave, Nell gives Rick a good luck piece that her mother gave her father during World War I, then Ruth, Doris and Nell cancel their appearance at the premiere to cheer up incoming wounded men. Afterward, Ruth promises Callan that she will encourage other celebrities to visit the base and its hospital, and he offers to arrange for an Air Force plane to fly them up from Los Angeles. The next day at the Warner Bros. studio, Ruth urges a studio executive to have a plane full of celebrities ready to fly to the base the next morning, but gets nowhere with the idea, until Louella Parsons, a celebrity news reporter, reports in her column that Nell missed her first premiere to see her hometown boyfriend leave for the war front. The next day, many stars arrive at the Air Force base, ready to cheer up and entertain, and Nell and Ruth are waiting near the runway to welcome the incoming plane. Mike and Rick, who are part of a crew that routinely flies between Honolulu and the base, have also returned. After seeing Rick and then reading Louella’s article, Nell presumes that he has intentionally taken advantage of her. Feeling like a fraud, Rick convinces Callan to arrange for his transfer to a combat unit. Later, after Warner Bros. executives and Callan pool celebrities and airplanes to provide weekly entertainment for the servicemen, Louella has Nell and Rick pose for press pictures, as their “romance” was the impetus for the program, which has been named “Operation Starlift.” Because of the publicity and the good intentions of the program, Rick and Nell feel they must keep up the pretense of a romance. Back at the studio, an executive tells Nell that he is scheduling a big show for the troops at Travis, but to his surprise, she declines to participate. Soon Rick and Nell discover that their parents have read about them in Louella’s column and they now feel compelled to keep up the false romance at home, as well, although they are quite resentful of each other and privately quarrel. Then Nell learns that Rick has been ordered to overseas duty and takes the Starlift plane to the base, hoping to apologize to him before he leaves. As the other stars perform in the big show and entertain hospital patients, Nell waits for Rick with the sympathetic Mike, who explains that he, not Rick, made up the story about their romance. When Rick shows up, she makes him a chocolate malt the way her father used to, and they share it after settling their differences. As Nell is expected on the set the next day, she plans to return to Los Angeles with the other performers. To delay the Starlift plane’s departure, Mike then removes its carburetor, so that Nell can be with Rick until he leaves for Korea.