Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is a very passionate woman who has had to suppress her energy because of her pushy mom, Mrs. Vale (Gladys Cooper). Then Charlotte meets Jasquith (Claude Rains), a doctor of psychiatry. He helps her to improve in attitude as well as in appearance. She pretends to be Ms. Beauchamp on a cruise and runs into Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid), with whom she falls in love. Back home, Charlotte decides to get away from her mother. Then she helps Jerry’s depressed daughter, Tina (Janis Wilson), to overcome problems like the ones she had. Charlotte was supposed to marry Elliot Livingston (John Loder), but decides to remain on her own after all.