Social-climbing Mrs. Oliver Jordan, whose husband's firm is in financial trouble, feels obligated to reciprocate hospitality for a visiting British aristocratic couple by arranging a small dinner party. The guests are chosen both to impress--a faded stage star, a well-known if over-the-hill alcoholic actor--and to meet certain social obligations. This means the necessary inclusion of a philandering doctor and his wife, and a gauche, nouveau-riche couple who are loathed but powerful.

Brooding and moody Maxim deWinter returns from an extended trip to the continent with a young bride, less than a year after the tragic death of hi first wife, Rebecca. The staff of Manderley, his country home, including Mrs Danvers the housekeeper who rules over the house, are still devoted to their former mistress, the socialite Rebecca and they find it difficult to accept the new, shy Mrs deWinter who is inexperienced running a large home.

An upscale Manhattan attorney torn between his greedy practices of insider trading and embezzlement and his desire to help the working-class Jews from his old neighborhood.

An understudy for a stage show's star takes over when an accident circumvents the stars performance. The understudy takes over and brings down the house.

Abraham Kaplan lives with his family in a row house populated by a kaleidoscope of characters looking to break out of poverty. Kaplan's revolutionary, socialist views grate against some of his neighbors.