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Beauregard "Bo" Decker, a rambunctious young cowboy, leaves his Montana ranch for only the second time in his life to participate in the big rodeo in Phoenix.  Bo is accompanied by the more worldly Virgil, who has shepherded him through his first twenty-one years.  After boarding the bus bound for Phoenix, Virg offers Bo some fatherly advice about dealing with women.  When the inexperienced Bo declares that he is "gonna find me a angel," Virg advises him to settle for a "plain old little girl."

As the bus nears Phoenix, Carl, the driver, stops at Grace's Diner for breakfast.  As Carl flirts with the tart-tongued Grace, Bo gulps down a quart of milk and three raw hamburgers.  When Elma, a young girl who works at Grace's, boards the bus, Virg encourages Bo to court her, but Bo is not interested.

In Phoenix, Bo is bowled over by the big city and its teaming masses.  Across from their hotel room, Virg spots the alluring Cherie dancing at the Blue Dragon Club.  When the club owner insults Cherie by calling her an ignorant hillbilly, Cherie, who aspires to be a great "chantoosie," shows her waitress friend Vera a map featuring a bold red line leading from River Gulch, Cherie's home town in the Ozarks, directly to Hollywood.

Soon after, Virg enters the club and Cherie cajoles him into buying her a drink.  When Cherie takes the stage to warble a song, Bo bursts into the room and immediately falls in love.  Proclaiming that Cherie is his angel, Bo silences the noisy crowd, follows Cherie offstage and then pulls her out the back door.  Pronouncing her name "Cherry," Bo performs acrobatics to woo her, and then kisses her.  After escorting Cherie back into the club, Bo proudly announces that they are engaged, much to Cherie's surprise.  Cherie is dumbstruck by this turn of events, and is accused by Virg of being a cheap hustler.

Early the next morning, Bo barges into Cherie's boardinghouse bedroom and, hoping to impress her with his mind, begins to recite the Gettysburg Address.  Bo then hauls the sleepy Cherie to the rodeo parade and hoists her up on his shoulders.  At the rodeo, Bo wraps Cherie's green scarf around his neck for luck.  After winning each event, the boisterous Bo cavorts around the arena, hollering for Cherie.  When Cherie, seated in the stands, tells Vera that Bo bought a marriage license and shows her an engagement ring, Vera voices concern.  Spotting a preacher waiting ringside, Cherie runs away, sparking rumors about an imminent marriage between the cowboy and the sultry blonde.

Back at her boardinghouse, Cherie frets as Vera packs her bags and counsels Cherie to ask for an advance on her salary so that she can make a quick getaway.  At the Blue Dragon, Virg informs Cherie that Bo is a virgin who has never even been kissed.  Together, Virg and Vera coach Cherie on strategies for handling Bo, but when Bo comes to collect her, Cherie, unable to lie, tells him goodbye forever.  The volatile Bo then rips the tail off Cherie's costume, sending her to her dressing room in hysterics.  Climbing out the window, Cherie runs to the bus station, but Bo lassoes her and drags her onto the bus bound for Montana.

As the bus approaches Grace's Diner, a blizzard closes the roads, forcing the passengers to take shelter in the diner.  Cherie leaves the sleeping Bo in the back of the bus and, when he awakens he barges into the diner and harangues Cherie for leaving him behind.  Outraged by Bo's behavior, Carl orders him to desist.  When Bo then slings the squealing Cherie over his shoulder, Virg blocks the door and Carl challenges Bo to step outside and slug it out.  After Carl soundly thrashes Bo, Virg insists that Bo apologize to everyone that he has offended.

The next morning, Bo makes amends to Grace and Elma, and then meekly asks Cherie for her forgiveness and returns her scarf.  When she offers him the engagement ring, Bo asks her to keep it.  After news comes that the roads have opened, Cherie tries to console Bo by confessing that she was not the angel he believed her to be.  As Bo and Virg prepare to board the bus, Bo asks Cherie if he can kiss her goodbye and, after a tender embrace, he runs out of the diner.

Bo soon returns and shyly states that Virg has suggested that her experience and his inexperience average out, thus making them the perfect couple.  Asserting that he loves her just as she is, Bo asks Cherie to marry him.  Cherie, touched by his sweetness, replies that she would follow him anywhere and then throws away her map to Hollywood.  Realizing that Bo no longer needs him, Virg decides to remain behind.  After Bo tenderly wraps his jacket around Cherie, she drapes her scarf around his neck and he escorts her onto the bus.