Roger Slade (Lloyd Nolan), his wife Leah (Dorothy McGuire) and their teenage daughter, Susan (Connie Stevens), return to California after 10 years abroad. On the journey home, Susan has an affair with an older man (Grant Williams) and becomes pregnant. The father of Susan's child dies in an accident, driving Susan to suicidal hysteria. To save her family, Leah pretends the baby is hers, but Susan has trouble maintaining the lie as two men compete for her attention.