Molly, a poor, uneducated young woman, leaves her mountain cabin home in search of a rich husband and a better life. She finds both in Leadville Johnny Brown as she strikes it lucky and he strikes gold.

"Professor" Harold Hill is a con man who comes to River City, IA, in the weeks just prior to the 1912 Fourth of July celebration. Persuading the town that the youth of River City is in great danger of being corrupted, Hill convinces them that their need to organization a boy's band, with himself as a leader. Hill promises to teach the kids how to make music by utilizing his revolutionary "Think System." There's only one problem: the professor doesn't...