
Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens

Sylvia Smith-Stevens

Uncle Oscar Smith

Insp. Mulrooney

Pop Benson

Jake Shomberg

Mr. Gordon

Mr. Beckstein

Shep

Bob

Jim

Justice of the Peace (uncredited)

Katie, a shy newspaper accountant submits a reply to a "Dear Viola" letter to the editor that she works for, anonymously. She has a real knack for writing to people and getting to the heart of the matter. Soon, she takes over the newspaper's advice column and falls in love with one of her correspondents. The whole town becomes involved in the romantics.

Tired of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, itinerant journalist Paul Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local San Juan newspaper run by the downtrodden editor Lotterman. Adopting the rum-soaked lifestyle of the late ‘50s version of Hemingway’s 'The Lost Generation', Paul soon becomes entangled with a very attractive American woman and her fiancée, a businessman involved in shady property development deals. It is within this world that Kemp ultimately discovers his true voice as a writer and integrity as a man.