When Mr. Blandings' best friend and attorney, Bill Cole (Melvyn Douglas) helps Muriel in her scheme to convince her husband to make some changes to the apartment, he considers moving to Connecticut instead and responds to a real estate ad that read: Forced to sell. Farm dwelling. Old beams, barn, apple orchards, trout stream. Superb view. Will sacrifice.

Bill Cole narrates the story as the Blandings are on their drive in the country and we learn that Smith, the real estate salesman, is a mighty shrewd cookie... in a quiet sort of way. He knows a sucker when he sees one and thinks he can finally unload the old, very old, Hackett place. Ian Wolfe portrays Mr. Smith, the real estate agent, and he does a fine job of pointing out all of the property features, including the fact that the Blandings would be buying a piece of American history as General Gates of the Revolutionary war stopped there to water his horses. The easy commute, brand new high school, and twice a week grocery delivery schedule support his belief that someone will benefit from this sale. He tells the Blandings, "I am not trying to sell you anything, you understand. All I am saying is that one of these days someone with a little imagination is going to come along and just steal this place and I mean steal it. I guess I don't have to tell you, Mrs. Blandings, what a woman's touch could do to this place."

Cole, upon review of the already-signed paperwork, tells Mr, Blandings that he has been taken to the cleaners and he didn't even know his pants were off. He paid $200 an acre for land when $100 an acre is the "standard top gouge price to city slickers" in that part of Connecticut. And, to add insult to injury, the land is really 35 acres, not 50 as previously stated. A rather obscure note on the back of the second letter from the real estate agent explains that Mr. Hackett may have been a bit optimistic about the amount of land on the farm when he said it was 50 acres.

In rebuttal to his friend's accusation of being swindled, Mr. Blandings explains: "Muriel and I have found what I am not ashamed to call our dream house. It is like a fine painting. You buy it with your heart, not your head. You don't ask how much was the paint, how much was the canvas. You look at it and you say "it is beautiful -- I want it." And, if it cost a few more pennies, you pay it and gladly, because you love it and you can't measure things you love in dollars and cents."

Finding out that the old homestead needs to be torn down is a setback for the Blandings but they go forward with their plans to build new and, after a long series of disasterous setbacks, they finally make the move into their new home. Bill Cole helps put on a Hollywood happy ending to this tale by telling the Blandings that, even though they may have gotten fleeced, they ended up with something really special. He said "Maybe there are some things you should buy with your heart. Maybe those are the things that really count."

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