It Happened on Fifth Avenue

For the past twenty years, vagabond Aloysius T. McKeever - Mac - has squatted in some of the best homes while the owners have been away, he wearing the owners' clothes and using their supplies, including eating the food in their pantry, just little enough so that the owners would not notice anything missing upon their return. For the past three winters, he has chosen the Manhattan Fifth Avenue mansion of Michael J. O'Connor, the second richest man in the world, his money all self-made in various business ventures. This winter, Mac invites two people in need of shelter to stay with him in the mansion, they who invite a few other needy people. The first invitee is Jim Bullock, a war veteran who was evicted from his last apartment owned by O'Connor, who is tearing down the building to construct a luxury high rise in its place. Jim's own experience and that of colleagues has led to Jim having a grand plan to provide housing for veterans, he having his eye on some government property outside the city that will soon be up for sale. Jim's subsequent invitees into the house are two fellow veterans and their families who could not find housing as many places will not accept children. The second invitee is eighteen year old Trudy Smith, a runaway. In having fallen in love with Jim and in love with what Mac is doing with the house, Trudy does not tell her housemates that while she truly is a runaway, her last name is not really Smith, but O'Connor - the daughter of Michael J. O'Connor - she who ran away from finishing school in her unhappiness and who snuck into the house to get some of her own clothes. She is unhappy because of her broken family, her parents who divorced years ago as Trudy's mother felt Michael was unfaithful, his mistress being his unending quest for more and more wealth at all cost and no matter who he hurt, people like Jim, in the process. Because Trudy wants to marry Jim, she invites two other vagabonds into the house. The first is Mike, who she has invited in the caveat that he not divulge that he is really her father, Michael J. O'Connor, who returned to New York from his annual winter getaway in Virginia to deal with some business. The second is Mary, who ends up being the cook of the group. She is really Mary O'Connor, Trudy's mother and Michael's ex-wife who Trudy called in both to meet Jim and to neutralize Mike's effect in the house. Beyond Mike's anger about what Mac and the others are doing in his house which includes he seeing Jim as a freeloader, further potential fireworks between housemates may occur as Mike is eyeing that same government property as Jim for what is arguably his largest business venture to date.