A young man falls in love with a girl from a rich family. His unorthodox plan to go on holiday for the early years of his life is met with skepticism by everyone except for his fiancée's eccentric sister and long suffering brother.

Linda Seton: You've got no faith in Johnny, have you, Julia? His little dream may fall flat, you think. Well, so it may, what if it should? There'll be another. Oh, I've got all the faith in the world in Johnny. Whatever he does is all right with me. If he wants to dream for a while, he can dream for a while, and if he wants to come back and sell peanuts, oh, how I'll believe in those peanuts!
Edward 'Ned' Seton: You know, most people, including Johnny and yourself, make a big mistake about Julia. They're taken in by her looks. At bottom, she's a very dull girl and the life she pictures for herself is the life she belongs in.
Johnny Case: Anything else, sir?
Edward Seton: I beg your pardon.
Linda Seton: I should think you would.
Linda Seton: You see Case, the trouble with me is that I never could decide whether I wanted to be Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, or John L. Lewis.
Mrs. Susan Elliott Potter: Don't tell anyone, but I've got a run in my stocking.
Professor Nick Potter: Good heavens, we're ruined.
[to the butler]
Professor Nick Potter: Not a word of this to a soul.
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Did I get home alright last night?
Downstairs Butler Admitting Johnny: Everything is perfectly alright, sir.
Edward 'Ned' Seton: How did I get this bump on my forehead?
Downstairs Butler Admitting Johnny: You slipped once or twice, sir, in your bathroom.
Linda Seton: What's it like to get drunk, Ned?
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Well, I... how drunk?
Linda Seton: Good and drunk!
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Oh, it's wonderful. You see, you think clear as crystal. But every move, every situation is a problem. It gets pretty interesting.
Linda Seton: You get beaten in the end though, don't you?
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Sure, but that's okay.
Linda Seton: Where do you wind up?
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Where does anybody wind up? You die... that's okay, too.
Linda Seton: Oh, Ned! that's awful!
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Think so? Other things are worse.
Linda Seton: What is it you want, Julia? Just security? To sit smugly back in your bank vault among the worthys of the world?
Julia Seton: Well, one thing I don't want is to start this endless, aimless discussion all over again!
Edward 'Ned' Seton: You're twice as attractive as Julia ever thought of being. You've got twice the looks, twice the mind and ten times the quality. You could charm a bird off a tree if you would, and why not? If you were in her way she'd ride you down like a rabbit.
Linda Seton: For the love of Pete... it's the witch and Dopey!
Johnny Case: I don't call what I've been doing living.
Linda Seton: And what do you recommend for yourself, doctor?
Johnny Case: A holiday.
Linda Seton: For how long?
Johnny Case: As long as I need.
Linda Seton: You mean just to play?
Johnny Case: No. I've been working since I was 10, I want to find out why I'm working. It can't just be to pay bills and pile up more money, even if you do the government's going to take most of it.
Linda Seton: But what is the answer?
Johnny Case: I don't know, that's what I intend to find out. The world's changing out there, there are a lot of new, exciting ideas running around. Some may be right and some may be cockeyed but they're affecting all our lives. I want to know how I stand, where I fit in the picture, what it's all gonna mean to me. I can't find that out sitting behind some desk in an office, so as soon as I get enough money together, I'm going to knock off for a while.
Johnny Case: When I find myself in a position like this, I ask myself what would General Motors do? And then I do the opposite!
Linda Seton: [Making introductions] My brother Ned - Mr and Mrs Potter - they're friends of Johnny's.
Mrs. Susan Elliott Potter: He used to live with us.
Professor Nick Potter: We've come to warn his future bride about him - he never puts the cap back on the toothpaste.
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Mm-hmm. Then we'll drink a toast to Johnny - he *needs* it.
[Fills champagne glasses]
Mrs. Susan Elliott Potter: Needs it ?
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Oh. I'm wrong. He doesn't need it. Johnny's doing *all* right.
Linda Seton: What's on your mind Ned ?
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Nothing's on my mind.
Linda Seton: What do you mean - Johnny's doing all right ?
Edward 'Ned' Seton: I mean he's doing All Right. He's having a whirl. Julia's got his hair slicked down and Father's seeing that he meets the important people.
Professor Nick Potter: My word - are there important people downstairs ?
Linda Seton: Oh - frightfully important - that's why I want to give a party up here.
Professor Nick Potter: [Quoting an imaginary society column] 'Miss Linda Seton - on New Year's Eve - entertained a small group of Very Unimportant People.'
[Lifting champagne glass]
Professor Nick Potter: To our hostess.
[They all drink to Linda]
Linda Seton: [Chuckles] May I drink too ?
Linda Seton: Someone stop me; O someone please, just try and stop me!
Johnny Case: [Seeing stuffed giraffe] Oh, did she love that too?
Linda Seton: [Hugging the toy] Now don't you a word about Leopold, he's very sensitive.
Johnny Case: Yours.
Linda Seton: Looks like me.
[turning it's head in profile]
Edward 'Ned' Seton: You see, Father wanted a large family so Mother promptly had Linda, but Linda was a girl so Mother promptly had Julia, but Julia was a girl and the whole thing seemed hopeless. Then, the following year Mother had me, it was a boy and the fair name of Seaton would flourish.
[Toasting]
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Drink to Mother , Johnny, she tried to be a Seaton for a while, then gave up and died.
Johnny Case: You're talking out of your hat, Ned.
Edward 'Ned' Seton: I'm not.
Linda Seton: What's the use of having all this jack around if it can't get us a superior kind of man?
Johnny Case: I want to save part of my life for myself. There's a catch to it though, it's gotta be part of the young part. You know, retire young, work old, come back and work when I know what I'm working for, does that make any sense?
Linda Seton: That makes a lot of sense. Does Julia know?
Johnny Case: No, I don't want to raise her hopes until I get enough money together.
Linda Seton: Oh she has enough for two right now, or ten for that matter.
Johnny Case: No, that's out. I don't want her dough, I want to earn it myself.
Linda Seton: That's foolish. You're alright though, Case, you haven't been bitten yet you haven't been caught by it.
Johnny Case: By what?
Linda Seton: The reverence for riches. Look out for that, Johnny.
Linda Seton: Well, well, let's ring bells! Let's send up skyrockets! . . . Well, let's turn on all the lights in the house.
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Walk, don't run, to the nearest exit.
Mrs. Laura Cram: I've never been up here before. It's awfully quaint, isn't it?
Linda Seton: We like it.
Linda Seton: Compared to the life I lead, the last man in a chain gang thoroughly enjoys himself.
Johnny Case: [to Linda] You poor thing. They won't let you have any fun, and they won't let you have any time to think.
Linda Seton: There are a lot of humorous little episodes. I tried to get Father to let me take a nursing course at a hospital. Oh yes and I almost got arrested trying to help some strikers over in Jersey. Well how was I to know that Father was on the board of directors at the company? You see, Case, the trouble with me is I never could decide whether I wanted to be Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, or John L. Lewis.
Johnny Case: What's the matter, you fed up?
Linda Seton: To the neck.
Professor Nick Potter: Congratulations, miss Seton. You're not getting very much, but I'm sure you can improve him.
Professor Nick Potter: [referring to the massive Seton home] You know, this reminds me a little of the palace of Caligula. You remember Caligula, don't you dear?
Mrs. Susan Elliott Potter: Oh, very well indeed. Whatever became of him?
Johnny Case: [about the playroom] This is quite different, from the rest of the house I mean.
Linda Seton: This was Mother's idea. She thought there ought to be one room in the house where people could come and have some fun. She used to be up here as much as we were before she died. I think it was kind of an escape for her. She was marvelous.
Linda Seton: It'll be a pity if this doesn't come off, it'll be a real pity.
[Looks down]
Linda Seton: Yes, it'll be a pity if this doesn't come off, too.
Linda Seton: [speaking of Johnny] But, why hasn't he a right to live part of his life as he wants to?
Edward Seton: Linda, I should like to understand what he and you are aiming at... but, I confess I cannot. I consider his whole attitude un-American.
Linda Seton: Oh, are you serious?
Edward Seton: Entirely.
Linda Seton: Well, then, he is, and he won't go to Heaven when he dies, because apparently, he can't quite believe that a life devoted to piling of money is all it's cracked up to be. Strange, isn't it, when he has us right before his eyes for such a shining example.
Johnny Case: [upon seeing the mansion for the first time] Judas!
Downstairs Butler Admitting Johnny: I beg your pardon?
Johnny Case: Er, I just said Judas. It didn't mean anything.
Dorothy: Did you have an accident, Ned?
Edward 'Ned' Seton: Apparently. I don't seem to have been there when it happened.
Linda Seton: You mean to say your mother wasn't even a whoozis?
Edward Seton: Interesting neck-tie you have.
[pause]
Edward Seton: I have a haberdasher whose made my ties for many years and that pattern I seem to recognize.
Johnny Case: Perhaps sir, because this happens to be your neck-tie. Ned thought it might bring me luck.