Stella Dallas a pretty working class girl decides she wants more out of life than drudgery and work. She sets her sights on marry rich and she manages it. But she soon finds that marrying a rich man and keeping him are not the same things. Course and vulgar by upper class standards she is unable to bridge the cultural divide that separates them. When Stella and her husband inevitably divorce she shifts her ambitions to her daughter. But can she be any more successful at helping her daughter fit into that world than she was herself?

Stella Dallas has captivated audiences since it first appeared. It has been successfully adapted three times for the screen and once as a radio play and is credited with creating the modern soap opera. Barbara Stanwyck garnered an Oscar nomination for playing the title role.