A drama about the contents of a last will and testament left behind by an African-American sharecropper who was lynched after being falsely accused of the murder of a white plantation owner.
Social & External
The people behind it
William Fountaine
Shingzie Howard
Shirley Kaye is the vivacious daughter of Egerton Kaye, president of the great Union Central Railroad. The latter holds his position through his descent from "Pirate" Kaye, who founded the line, rather than through any executive ability of his own. Shirley is queen of the most exclusive Long Island set, and as clever as she is lovely to look at. From the West comes T.J. Magen, a rough but lion-hearted financier, who buys the house next door to the Kayes. Magen cares little for society, and the elaborate household which their wealth forces them to support is a constant worry to his simple and unassuming wife. But the daughter, "Daisy," yearns, with all her heart to break into the society and swim where Shirley Kaye reigns supreme.
Vivacious little Gilberte, known as Frou Frou, is the daughter of M. Brigard, a retired merchant, who has as his companion in a life of gaiety, Comte Paul de Valreas, a much younger man. Both the Count and Henry de Sartorys are in love with Frou Frou, and when De Sartorys asks for the hand of Frou Frou, M. Brigard refers him to Louise, the elder daughter, who is in charge of the household. To Louise, who loves de Sartorys, comes the first anguish of her life, when he confides his love for Frou Frou. However, she confers with her little sister who agrees to marry De Sartorys. Paul also asks for Frou Frou's hand, but Brigard refuses, stating he is too jolly a companion to be trusted as a son-in-law.
In China, a boy reads a legend about a mysterious woman's power over a wealthy Mandarin prince. In New York, Betty Cardon, a social butterfly, disregards her husband Blair's order to stop gambling their money at bridge, and finds herself in debt to Geoffrey North, who, encouraged by her flirting, now wants sexual payment. Cherry Blossom, a Chinese girl who refuses to be sold by her father to the brutal Li Hsun, a wealthy Mandarin, hides in Betty's home after Betty's friend, Susan Pettigrew, a mission worker, introduces them.
On a South Sea island, wealthy hunter Scott Quaigg meets Tiare, the daughter of a drunken Scotsman and a native woman, who happily give permission to marry her. While sailing to his home in New York, Quaigg treats Tiare roughly and throws Captain Croft overboard when he comes to her defense. Quaigg attempts to tame Tiare by exploiting her superstitions and threatening her with the same whip he uses on his pet leopard. Later, Tiare awaits her husband's return from a hunting trip with a gun and fires as a man enters, only to discover that it is Captain Croft, who was saved from drowning. Quaigg finds them together and releases the leopard. However, the beast kills its master before being shot by Croft. Afterward, Tiare and Croft return to the South Seas together.
Young minister Brand Cameron meets stage star Adrienne Durant at her father's humble country home. Believing her an innocent country girl, Cameron falls in love with her. She confesses her racier life and returns to New York. Cameron follows, unable to give Adrienne up, his parishioners denounce him and force him to resign. He departs, accepting a post in a tough lumber camp while Adrienne accepts the charge of a school for poor children. Later Faro Kate falsely accuses Cameron of fathering her child enraging the lumbermen who set fire to his church. Discovering Kate's baby is trapped inside Cameron risks his like to save the child causing Kate to retract her lie and Adrienne comes to join him in his new ministry.
Because of the loss of three generations of women in her family during childbirth Ellen Locke is frightened to have kids. Frustrated by her decision, her husband John finds himself drawn to his old love, Constance, now a widow with a child who bears her name. After her sister Marion dies in childbirth, Ellen becomes more obsessed, however one day when Ellen is driving little Constance home they have a car accident. An incident in the hospital changes her perspective leading to a reconciliation with John.
Cordelia Marlowe comes from a society family that has lost its fortune. She falls into the clutches of D.K. Franklin, a crooked lawyer who specializes in blackmail, and finds herself involved in Franklin's scheme to extort money from a family friend. She sets out to protect her friend's money and expose Franklin for the thief he is.
Wealthy Joshua Anson expects his son Chadwick to marry a woman of their class, but much to his chagrin Chadwick falls in love with factory girl Mary McClintock. Anson schemes to break up the romance by framing Mary in a compromising situation, but she outsmarts him and marries Chadwick. Not to be defeated, Anson offers his daughter-in-law $100,000 to divorce his son, but Mary outfoxes him once again by accepting the money, getting a divorce, and then remarrying Chadwick. Mary's last trick wins her father-in-law's respect, and he finally offers the couple his blessings.
Cowboy Mark West lives on a ranch with his sister Mary, who suffers from a serious spinal disorder. Flighty East Coast socialite Violet Ridgeway flirts with Mark while vacationing at the ranch but returns to her fiancée, Dr. Welsh, when she leaves. Mark has been working hard to earn money for an operation Mary, which Doctor Welsh and Doctor Boyd agree to perform without telling him how dangerous it is. When Mary dies Mark receives a letter detailing the doctor’s risk-taking, filled with vengeance Mark kills Boyd, but Welsh flees to safety. Mark is imprisoned, but Violet convinces him to marry her, satisfying a stipulation in her late aunt's will. Mark escapes taking Welsh and Violet hostage. They are set upon by a villain and in the confrontation Welsh’s cowardly act shows Violet Mark’s true worth and the pair escapes to freedom across the Canadian border.
A man traveling home for Christmas gets stuck in a small town and finds romance with a woman operating the telegraph.
Successful author Dane Ashley learns he has inherited an estate in a small village. Traveling to see his property Dane sees a crowd of children tormenting a young girl. He rescues the girl, but she vanishes through the door in the separating wall between his house and the next. Intrigued he investigates and learns that she is a Miss Virginia Carlton and rumored to be crazy. Disbelieving the rumors as to Virginia's insanity, Dane contrives a meeting and in time they fall in love. Virginia confides that it is her twin sister Helen who has had a mental breakdown after a traumatic incident and the loss of her beloved. In time all is made aright.
Mark Truitt dreams of becoming a steel magnate, so he leaves his home in the country and his sweetheart Unity and settles in Pittsburgh. He starts out as a laborer in the steel mill but soon becomes a foreman and then a superintendent. Mark lives with the shop foreman, whose daughter Kazia falls in love with him. Truitt, however, returns alone to his hometown and builds his own mill. Wealthy now, he marries Unity, but money changes her, so the couple gets a divorce. In the end, Mark goes back to Pittsburgh, finds Kazia, who has never stopped loving him, and marries her.
The old gardener, attracted by the ducks' antics, goes to the lake to find a basket with a baby in it. He becomes her guardian but passes away when she is fourteen, leaving her the house and garden. Beloved by the woodsman Jean, one day Lionel, a famous painter, approaches her to be his model, and she accepts. Eventually she finds herself torn between the two men.
A hunchback, sworn to revenge against a woman who rejected him, lures her stepdaughter Elaine to the stage and assists her to become a dancer. Her stepmother goes to see her dance where the hunchback murders her goes mad and falls off a cliff to his death. John Butler, who is loved by Elaine, is accused of killing him, but Elaine clears him of the charge by proving the hunchback was the murderer of her stepmother.
After his beloved daughter leaves for the city to pay off his debt, an old farmer goes mad when her letters become less frequent and it is suspected she may be using her body to get the money.
When housewife Trina wins the lottery, her comfortable life with her dentist husband John slowly deteriorates, in part by her own increasing paranoia and partly by the machinations of villainous acquaintance Marcus.
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy still struggled with the challenge of her color, in a time that wouldn't let some stars in by the front door. Yet against the odds she beat out many more famous rivals for the role of "Carmen Jones", becoming the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. Marriages and affairs would break her heart, but her heart was strong. Seductive and easily seduced, she was born to be a star - with all the glory and all the pain of being loved, abused, cheated, glorified, undermined and undefeated. Here was a woman who wouldn't wait in the wings. Halle Berry stars as Dorothy Dandrige.
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
While Native American Wolf is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands, when his mother was raped and killed on their reservation he crosses paths with Cash, a down and out musician who is coping with the end of his marriage. An unlikely friendship develops, as they ride together towards the Teton mountain range, where Wolf will spread his mothers ashes.
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder while looking out her bedroom window.
During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives?
