在好莱坞的日落大道边，有一个荒废的豪宅，院子进里的游泳池里发现了剧本作者乔·吉利斯的尸体，故事由此展开 ······过气演员诺玛（葛洛丽亚·斯旺森 Gloria Swanson 饰）已经将近50岁，曾经的风华绝代正在她居住的荒废豪宅里慢慢凋谢，身边只有好友马克斯（埃里克·施特罗海姆Erich von Stroheim 饰）伺奉。她没放弃重燃光辉的梦想，《莎乐美》的剧本正待编写，而逃避债务逃至此地的没落编剧乔（威廉·霍尔登 William Holden饰），正是这项事业的最佳候选。诺玛收留他住下，给他提供舒适的环境写作，并慢慢的倾心于他。他们二人都被对方所吸引。乔对大导演马克斯作诺玛的管家侍候诺玛大为不解。剧本完成后，为了要把这本剧本送给老朋友导演塞西尔，诺玛带了乔，叫马克斯开车到摄影场。塞西尔导演只对这部老爷车感兴趣，并不喜欢诺玛的剧本，马克斯和乔都不敢把真像告诉诺玛。这时乔对在摄影场剧本部工作的贝蒂（南希·奥尔森 Nancy Olson 饰）一见钟情，若玛知道这件事后决意要破坏他们的感情，乔非常生气， 现在乔已经不能接受这个青春已逝的妇人。他拒绝了她，并转过身和贝蒂相爱，打得火热。诺玛得知了乔的“背叛”，她卑微地哀求他，却动摇不了他渐行渐远的心，诺玛终于举起枪对准正要离开的乔。

Ellen McNulty sells her New Jersey hamburger stand and heads west to pay a surprise visit to her son and his new bride. When Ellen arrives, her daughter-in-law mistakes her for the maid she has hired for a big party her husband is throwing to impress his boss. Rather than cause any embarrassment, Ellen goes along with the charade, which leads to many complications. Written by Daniel Bubbeo {dbubbeo@cmp.com}
White-collar working stiff but upwardly mobile Val McNulty meets, quickly falls in love and marries socialite Maggie Carleton, who has no money of her own. Thus, they live in a modest apartment on Val's wages. At the same time, Val's widowed mother, Ellen, without funds of her own when the bank forecloses on her family business, a hamburger stand, decides to move from New Jersey to Ohio to live with Val. Her plans change when she finds out about Val's upcoming nuptials as she doesn't want to upset Val's life with his new wife. She also doesn't want to meet Maggie until she feels she has enough money at least to make herself "presentable" to someone of Maggie's social class. Once Ellen feels that is the case, she goes over to Val and Maggie's where a case of mistaken identity ensues when Maggie assumes Ellen is the cook hired for a dinner party happening that evening. Wanting to help her new daughter-in-law, Ellen doesn't correct Maggie. Although Val eventually finds out who the cook is, Ellen convinces him - blackmails really - that she can be of better assistance to Maggie as Ellen the live-in full-time household cook, than Mrs. McNulty her new mother-in-law. Ellen ends up being more than just a cook as as hired help, she is privy to many of the thoughts and schemes of those who don't want to see Val and Maggie's marriage succeed, namely Maggie's ex-boyfriend/Val's boss George Kalenger Jr., Val's ex-girlfriend Betsy Donaldson, and Maggie's snobbish mother Fran Carleton. Ultimately, Maggie finds out about the deception and decides to leave Val because she feels he didn't trust her to love someone of working class and he is only hiding his mother's identity to further his career. It isn't until Val risks a business deal by revealing Ellen's true identity to all that Maggie returns to her loving husband. Along the way, Ellen finds some personal happiness of her own.