Department-store owner Horatio Allen's (George Barbier) biggest mistake is to name his scatterbrained daughter Gracie (Gracie Allen) as his sole heir. Suddenly Gracie becomes obsessed with the notion of converting her dad's store into a bird sanctuary. Psychologist Dr. Otto von Strudel (Egon Brecher) suggests that the best way to dissuade Gracie is to marry her off to Burns (George Burns). Burns vetoes the idea until Allen Sr. offers to pay him 10 dollars for every mile he travels with Gracie away from the store. This leads to a series of zany "on the road" complications, with Gracie's foolishness causing no end of trouble for the long-suffering George. Much ado about nothing, Many Happy Returns is recommended for Burns and Allen's staunchest admirers, though music fans will enjoy Larry Adler's harmonica solo and the dulcet sounds of Guy Lombardo's Orchestra (incidentally, some of Lombardo's numbers are actually performed sans screen credit by the Duke Ellington band).