Norwegian immigrant Marta Hanson (Irene Dunne) keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a devoted husband (Philip Dorn) and a highly-educated lodger (Cedric Hardwicke) who reads Charles Dickens to the family every evening. Through financial crises, illnesses and the small triumphs of everyday life, Marta maintains her optimism and sense of humor, traits she passes on to her aspiring-author daughter, Katrin (Barbara Bel Geddes).