Set in Massachusetts in the years following World War I, Stella Martin (Barbara Stanwyck) is a working class woman who falls in love with and eventually marries a rich man, Stephen Dallas (John Boles). After the birth of their daughter, Laurel (Anne Shirley), his demands prove so great that their marriage falls apart. When Stephen marries another woman (Barbara O'Neil), Stella decides to give her daughter everything she wants in life, even at the expense of her own reputation. When she realizes what it would take to help her daughter's social standing, she ultimately decides to make a huge sacrifice out of love.