My Favorite Wife

After being shipwrecked on an island off the coast of Indonesia for seven years, Ellen Arden returns home on the very day that her husband Nick has had her declared dead so that he can marry Bianca Bates. After learning from her sympathetic mother-in-law that Nicky has left for Yosemite on his honeymoon, Ellen flies off to the honeymoon lodge, the same one, in fact, where she and Nicky spent their own honeymoon. When Nick sees Ellen just as he enters the lodge elevator with Bianca, he can't believe his eyes, but soon discovers that his beloved Ellen has returned. After his initial elation at having Ellen back, however, he is soon confronted with the reality that he now has two wives. Although he admits to Ellen that he never really loved Bianca, whom he met on the boat on the way back from searching for Ellen, Nicky cannot bring himself to tell Bianca that she is a lame duck. Instead, he thinks of a variety of excuses why he must leave their honeymoon suite and not behave as a bridgegroom should. Bianca is certain that there is something wrong with Nicky, especially when they return home and he refuses to tell his children, Tim and Chinch, that Bianca is their stepmother. Ellen decides to torment him by masquerading as a friend of the family from the South. After Bianca goes to bed with a headache and calls her mother to complain about Nicky's eratic behavior, Nicky receives a late-night visit from an insurance investigator representing the company which paid Ellen's life insurance policy. He indirectly learns from the man that Ellen was not alone in her seven year ordeal, but was kept company by Stephen Burkett. He also learns that after their rescue, crew members of the Portuguese freighter that picked up the pair reported that he called her "Eve" and she called him "Adam." Nicky confronts Ellen about Stephen, whom she had neglected to mention, but she dismisses Stephen as a harmless old man. Now crazy with jealousy, Nicky decides to find Stephen, whom Ellen said would be residing at the Y.M.C.A., and, much to Nicky's chagrin, he discovers Stephen to be an athletic Adonis who is staying at the Pacific Club. Meanwhile, not knowing that Nicky has located Stephen, Ellen finds a mousey shoe salesman whom she thinks would be a perfect alter ego and passes him off to Nicky as her island companion. Pretending not to suspect anything, Nicky then takes Ellen to lunch at the Pacific Club, where he and Stephen finally meet face-to-face. The embarassed Ellen takes an unintended plunge into the club's pool, requiring Nicky to go home and get some clothes for her. As Nicky goes through Ellen's closets looking for a suitable outfit, Bianca sends in a psychiatrist whom she has called in to straighten him out. Just when the befuddled Nicky is trying to explain his actions to Bianca and the psychiatrist, however, the police arrive and arrest him for bigamy. In court, Nicky's domestic conundrum is finally exposed as he, Bianca, Ellen and Stephen try to sort out the complicated details of the case to the judge. After various unsatisfactory explanations are offered, the judge finally grants Bianca an annulment, and she happily leaves after socking Nicky. The judge then has to declare Ellen legally alive, reversing his former decision that she was legally dead, and decides to take the matter under consideration. With all of the strain of the last few days, Nicky declares that he needs time to think. Irked by her husband's lack of commitment, Ellen decides to go away and think as well, leaving Stephen to return to the island alone. Finally, Nicky decides to drive Ellen and the children, who still do not know that she is their real mother, to their old mountain cabin. He plans to leave, but the roads are closed and he is forced to spend the night. After the children happily reveal that they know Ellen is their mother, and after Mrs. Arden telephones Ellen to say that the judge has declared her legally alive and her marriage is intact, Ellen says goodnight to Nicky and tells him to sleep in the attic. Several attempts to sleep in Ellen's bedroom prove fruitless, and she tells him to take a sixty-day cruise and come back around Christmas. After hearing considerable noise coming from the attic, Ellen is soon surprised when Nicky enters the room in a Santa Claus suit and wishes her a Merry Christmas. (official distributor synopsis)