Colbert is a famous "poor little rich girl" who eloped against her father's wishes and is now being pressured -- on the family yacht in Miami -- to annul. Instead, she jumps overboard with no other plan other than to get to New York to reunite with her husband. Though her father has dispatched dozens of men to find her, she's savvy enough to stay on the downlow while pawning what she had on her to get travel clothes and a little bit of cash for a bus ticket. Clark Gable is a newspaper man who stumbles across this naive and entitled traveler and only realizes who she is after they've antagonized each other. It becomes a sort of "Planes Trains and Automobiles"-type story with everything possible going wrong, which gets them at each others' throats and hearts.
It's impossible not to root for these two: they are clearly having fun on the road together even while grappling with problem after problem. Colbert goes from "I don't need you" to a grudging realization that she'd be in over her head without him while Gable is surprised at how capable and savvy this sheltered heiress actually is.
This is one of those movies that could probably still please a crowded theater.
B+