The movie is about a housewife named Mildred Pierce. Her marriage is troubled. Her husband leaves her for dead-common Mrs. Beedlehoff. Mildred has two little girls. Kay is a nice kid; Veda is a spoiled-rotten, high-falutin' brat. Mildred must take care of her kids alone by secretly slinging hash. She is a good cook. She opens a restaurant. Kay dies. Business is great. She gets rich. Mildred gives Veda everything she wants. Mildred starts to date a playboy named Monty. He is spoiled, too. He constantly asks Mildred for money. He never pays it back. One day she finds Monty and Veda in an act of intimacy. Mildred has a gun. She wants to shoot Monty. She drops the gun. She runs away crying. Later Veda shoots Monty when he tells her to get out of his life because she is nothing more than a saucy little tramp. Veda is seized at the airport attempting to flee Los Angeles and is sent to jail. There is nothing her rich mother can do. She reunites with her husband.