A Korean war vet and his bride face subtle and sometimes extreme racism when they return to his home in rural California.

A medical student with a club foot falls for a beautiful but ambitious waitress. She soon leaves him, but gets pregnant and comes back to him for help.

Tough torch singer Petey Brown, visiting her family, finds a nest of troubles: her sister, brother, and the neighbor's wife are involved in various ways with shady nightclub owner Nicky Toresca. Petey has what it takes to handle Nicky, but then she meets San Thomas, formerly great jazz pianist now on the skids, and falls for him hard.

Tongues begin to wag when a lonely widow becomes romantically involved with a military man. Problems arise when the gossip is filtered down to her own children.

凯特（贝蒂·戴维斯 Bette Davis 饰）和帕特里希（贝蒂·戴维斯 Bette Davis 饰）是一对孪生姐妹，拥有一模一样的长相，就连亲生父母都很难分辨出她们究竟谁是谁。一位名叫比尔（格伦·福特 Glenn Ford 饰）的灯塔巡视员出现在了姐妹两人苍白的生命里，她们顿时双双坠入了情网，最终，比尔选择了帕特里希。为了忘记比尔，凯特开始投身于艺术创作之中。 一晃眼几年过去，凯特始终都没能忘记内心的悸动。一天，她和帕特里希出海航行，结果发声了意外，帕特里希被茫茫大海所吞噬。凯特幸运的逃过一劫，捡回了一条命，但她接下来必须将帕特里希的死讯告诉比尔。

Helen Ferguson, pregnant, penniless and dumped by her boyfriend Steve Morley, takes the identity of the pregnant Patrice Harkness, when she and her husband are killed in a train crash. The rich Harkness in-laws, and their other son Bill, had never seen Patrice, so they accept her and her newborn son into their family. However Steve eventually finds her and starts to blackmail her.

吉姆（理查德·贝斯哈特 Richard Basehart 饰）是议员的儿子，亦是家里万贯财产的继承人。早年间，他和一个名叫桑德拉（芭芭拉·斯坦威克 Barbara Stanwyck 饰）的神秘女人结了婚，如今，桑德拉成为了吉姆唯一的财产继承人。为了交涉遗产事宜，桑德拉来到了吉姆家中，见到了吉姆的弟弟马克（埃罗尔·弗林 Errol Flynn 饰），这个行为怪异鬼鬼祟祟的男人带给了桑德拉极为深刻的印象。 吉姆的妹妹朱莉（杰拉尔丁·布鲁克斯 Geraldine Brooks 饰）对自己的哥哥也没有好话，这更加深了桑德拉对马克的怀疑，不久之后朱莉意外身亡，这更令桑德拉坚信，这个家庭里发生的一连串的悲剧都和马克有着千丝万缕的关联。