Divorced Broadway stars Fred Graham (Howard Keel) and Lilli Vanessi (Kathryn Grayson) agree to star in a musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" alongside rising young actors Lois Lane (Ann Miller) and Bill Calhoun (Tommy Rall). Backstage complications pile up due to a romantic misunderstanding between Fred and the soon-to-be-remarried Lilli, while Bill's gambling debts cause a pair of lunkheaded mobsters (Keenan Wynn, James Whitmore) to become part of the show.