Three young women meet when they embark on their careers. Neely O'Hara (Duke) is a plucky kid with undeniable talent who sings in a Broadway showâthe legendary actress Helen Lawson (Hayward) is the arrogant star of the playâwhile Jennifer North (Tate), a beautiful blonde with limited talent, is in the chorus. Anne Welles (Parkins) is a New England ingenue who recently arrived in New York City and works as a secretary for a theatrical agency that represents Lawson. Neely, Jennifer, and Anne become fast friends, sharing the bonds of ambition and the tendency to fall in love with the wrong men.
Neely is fired from the show because Lawson considers her a threat to her top billing in the play. Assisted by Lyon Burke (Paul Burke), an attorney from Anne's theatrical agency, Neely makes an appearance on a telethon and is given a nightclub act. She becomes an overnight success and moves to Hollywood to pursue a lucrative film career. Once she's a star, however, Neely not only duplicates the egotistical behavior of Lawson, she also falls victim to the eponymous "dolls" (prescription drugs, particularly the barbiturates Seconal and Nembutal and various stimulants). She betrays her husband, Mel Anderson (Martin Milner); her career is shattered by her erratic behavior triggered by her drug abuse, and she is committed to a sanitarium for rehabilitation.
Jennifer followed Neely's path to Hollywood, where she marries nightclub singer Tony Polar (Tony Scotti) and becomes pregnant. When she learns that he has the hereditary condition Huntington's chorea - a fact his domineering half-sister and manager Miriam (Lee Grant) had been concealing - Jennifer has an abortion. As Tony's mental and physical health declines, Jennifer and Miriam check him into the same sanitarium along with Neely. Faced with Tony's mounting medical expenses, Jennifer finds herself working in French "art films" (soft-core pornography) to pay the bills.
Anne's natural beauty lands her a lucrative job promoting a line of cosmetics in TV commercials and print ads. She also falls under the allure of drugs to escape her doomed relationship with cad Lyon (Burke), who has an affair with her erstwhile friend, Neely.
Neely, committed to the same institution as Tony to recover from her addictions, meets him there and they sing a duet at one of the sanitarium's weekly parties. Neely is released and given a chance to rebuild her career, but the lure of drugs and alcohol proves too strong and she spirals into a hellish decline.
Meanwhile, Jennifer is diagnosed with breast cancer and needs a mastectomy. She phones her mother, seeking moral support; but her mother is only concerned with the reaction from her friends at Jennifer's "art films". Jennifer then succumbs to depression and commits suicide by drug overdose.
Anne abandons drugs and her unfaithful lover and returns to New England. Lyon ends his affair with Neely and travels to New England to ask Anne to marry him. She decides to move on with her life and declines his offer.
What condition does Tony have?
Huntington's chorea