For the Love of Mary 1948 Mary Peppertree, a switchboard operator in the White House, is being courted by three men Philip Manning, an attorney Navy Lieutenant Tom Farrington, naval aide to the President and David Paxton, whose father owns an island in the Pacific When the U S Navy negotiates for the purchase of the island for a base, David agrees to sell on two conditions that Philip be made a judge in a court at least 1500 miles from Washigton, and that Lieutenant Farrington be given sea duty