Growing up in a poor working-class family, Laura decides not to marry the boy-next-door and instead accepts wealthy, older Will Brockton's invitation to move in with him. After falling in love with young up-and-coming newsman Jack Madison she leaves Brockton to wait for Madison's return from a long assignment. She runs out of money and becomes desperate, returning again to Brockton who, upon learning of Madison's sudden arrival, tells Laura she must inform Madison of her living situation or he will.
Cynthia is married to Steve and is a selfish hard woman. She decides where they will live, who they will see and even gets rid of Dora, the nanny who raised Steve and is now raising their daughter Ellen. When Steve divorces Cynthia, even his mother is on Cynthia's side. While pleading a case in Washington, Steve meets a woman named Maris and falls for her. Maris does not know if she is going to the altar or the chopping block, but they marry and come back to his hometown. Unfortunately, Maris is the outsider, and being a small town where Cynthia and Steve grew up, everyone is Cynthia's friend and not Maris. Cynthia will use every occasion, every trick, including Ellen, to try to ruin the life that Steve has with Maris.
The life and career of vaudevillian and silent screen horror star Lon Chaney, including his contentious relationship with his neurotic wife and his premature death.
