Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire), once a famous star of musical comedies on stage and later on screen, is largely forgotten after three years without a movie. He returns from Hollywood to New York. At Grand Central, he is recognized but almost ignored by reporters who are there to see Ava Gardner (in a cameo as herself). But he is greeted enthusiastically by his good friends Lester and Lily Marton (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray), and they tell him they have written a stage show, a light musical comedy, that will be a perfect comeback for Tony. They will also act in it, and they have already caught the interest of Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), who they say can do anything: currently he is starring in, as well as directing, a new adaptation of ''Oedipus Rex'' that he wrote himself based on the original Greek.