In the middle of a howling snowstorm, a bus out of Kansas City pulls up at a cheerful roadside diner. All roads are blocked, and four or five weary travelers are going to have to hole up until morning. Cherie, a nightclub chanteuse in a sparkling gown and a seedy fur-trimmed jacket, is the passenger with most to worry about. She's been pursued, made love to and finally kidnapped by a twenty-one-year-old cowboy with a ranch of his own and the romantic methods of an unusually headstrong bull. The belligerent cowhand is right behind her, ready to sling her over his shoulder and carry her, alive and kicking, all the way to Montana.
The original Broadway production premiered in 1955 starring Broadway legend, Elaine Stritch, in the role of Grace, the owner of the diner featured in the play. The play also inspired the 1956 movie of the same name starring that iconic blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, in the lead role of Cherie.