An aspiring actress named Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) is struggling to make ends meet, living alone with her 6-year-old daughter, Susie. One day on a beach she meets a black woman, Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore) and her light-skinned 8-year old daughter, Sarah Jane. Lora decides to take Annie on as her maid and the two women strike up a deep friendship. Slowly, Lora's acting career begins to take flight and she takes on more and more roles and meets more and more people that will help her advance in her career. The years go by and Lora, ten years later, is a seasoned actress who still feels that something is missing from her life. There is a potential suitor, Steve (John Gavin) who loves her but is pushed aside to make way for the highly ambitious Lora's career trajectory. Lora and Annie are still living together and now their two daughter's lives have become more complicated and troubled. Susie has fallen in love with Steve and Sarah Jane rejects her black mother and refuses to accept her because of the colour of her skin.
Sirk's direction is masterful and he is an expert in putting female characters in situations where their society is at odds with their own interests. It is highly melodramatic as most Sirk films are but it is compelling too and you feel deeply for the characters. The acting is superb from most of the actors the only annoying one is Sandra Dee as the adolescent Susie. The relationship between Annie and Sarah Jane is hearth-breaking and tragic. This film is a remake of a 1934 Claudette Colbert film and is based on a novel by Fannie Hurst. A moving, well-acted film.
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