Beginning with William Wrigley's acquisition of the Santa Catalina Island Company in 1919, the history of the island is explored with archival footage, stills, interviews of residents, historians and celebrities.

Les Brown and His Orchestra perform "My Lost Horizon" with Doris Day

The mysterious Mrs. Eleanor Carter moves to Springville with her two teenage children Jimmy and Cathy. Eleanor makes friends with the town's social leader Mrs. Wellington, who supports her idea for a town youth center, and she is aided by Tom Griffith, the high school principal. At the town's annual picnic, to which Eleanor has bought a band, the town busy-body Eunice reveals what she had learned from Eleanor's past.