), Susie (Terry Burnham), and Lora (
Lana Turner) In 1947, white widowed mother and aspiring
Broadway actress Lora Meredith meets photographer Steve Archer while frantically searching for her young daughter Susie at a crowded
Coney Island beach. She eventually finds Susie in the care of Annie Johnson, a single Black mother with a light-skinned Black daughter, Sarah Jane, who is about Susie's age and rejects being identified as Black. Since Annie and Sarah Jane have no place to go, Lora invites the two to stay temporarily in her small New York City apartment. In exchange, Annie offers to keep house and look after Susie while Lora pursues an acting career. Lora bluffs her way into the office of noted theatrical agent Allen Loomis, who attempts to
solicit sexual favors from her, upsetting her. Lora and Steve begin a romance, but she rejects his marriage proposal and breaks up with him when he forbids her from meeting with Loomis, who has offered her a role in a new stage comedy by David Edwards, a well-known playwright. The play is a rousing success, and Lora receives critical acclaim for her performance. She and David become lovers. For the next 10 years, Lora stars in a series of successful comedy plays written by David, becoming a highly regarded Broadway star and living in a luxurious home near New York City. Annie continues to live with her, serving as her nanny, housekeeper, confidante, and best friend. After rejecting David's latest script and marriage proposal, Lora takes a role in another writer's dramatic play, to great success. At the play's after-party, Lora encounters Steve, whom she has not seen in a decade. The two slowly begin to rekindle their relationship. Steve is reintroduced to Susie and Sarah Jane, who are now teenagers. When Lora is cast to star in an Italian film, she entrusts Steve to look after Susie, who develops an unrequited crush on her mother's boyfriend. ) and Annie Sarah Jane has been secretly dating a young white man, but he beats her after learning that her mother is Black. Some time later, she takes a job performing at a seedy Manhattan nightclub, lying to her mother that she is working at a library. When Annie learns the truth, she goes to the club to confront Sarah Jane. Humiliated, Sarah Jane runs away from home, leaving Annie distraught. Upon returning from Italy, Lora asks Steve to hire a private detective to locate Sarah Jane. The detective finds her working as a
chorus girl in Los Angeles under an assumed name. Increasingly ill, Annie flies out to see her daughter one last time and say goodbye. Sarah Jane is furious and insists that she is white, before they share an emotional embrace. When Sarah Jane's roommate interrupts them, Annie introduces herself as Sarah Jane's former nanny and leaves. After returning to New York, Annie becomes bedridden. Lora and Susie look after her. Susie confides in Annie about her feelings for Steve, but is upset when Lora announces her plans to marry Steve. The next morning, Annie tells Lora of Susie's infatuation with Steve, leading Lora to confront Susie. When Susie accuses her mother of prioritizing her career over her, Lora offers to break up with Steve, but Susie chooses to leave New York and go to college in Denver. As Annie dies, Lora breaks down in tears by her side. Lora grants Annie the lavish funeral that her friend had requested: in a large church, complete with a gospel choir, and followed by an elaborate traditional funeral procession with a band and four white horses drawing the hearse. Just before the procession sets off, Sarah Jane pushes through the crowd of mourners and throws herself on Annie's casket. She begs her mother's forgiveness, exclaiming, "I killed my mother!" Lora gently leads Sarah Jane into her limousine to join her, Susie, and Steve as the procession slowly travels through the crowded street. A large African-American crowd, dressed in the finery of their lodges and associations, silently watches. ==Cast==