The premise of Heart's Desire was simple: people wrote in asking for things; the better the cause, the better their chances of getting it. Up to 50,000 letters a week came in, to be read and judged by staff. The goal was, first of all, entertainment: letters that would make good air copy. This usually meant a tug at the heartstrings, a hearty laugh, or something bizarre (one woman wanted a washing machine so she wouldn't have to wash her husband's pants in the creek--he had refused to speak to her since finding a frog in his pocket).