, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother's house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school. tells her grandmother that she has been "passing" for white while at school in the North. In addition, has fallen in love with a young white doctor, Dr. Thomas Adams, who knows nothing about her black heritage. says that she will return to the North, but Granny Johnson convinces her to stay and treat an ailing white woman, Miss Em. Meanwhile, Dr. Canady, a black physician from another part of the state, visits and asks her to train some African American students, but she declines. nurses Miss Em but is resentful because she seems to feel that she is doing the same thing her grandmother did. and Miss Em slowly develop a mutual respect for one another. Mrs. Em leaves her property when she dies, but relatives of the deceased woman contest the new will in court. To raise money for the court fees, washes clothes by hand with her grandmother. The court rules in 's favor and she keeps the land. Tom wants her to resume her life as a white woman and to marry him, but she refuses. decides to use the house and land for Miss Em's Clinic and Nursery School.

Starring:

Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, William Lundigan, Basil Ruysdael, Kenny Washington, Nina Mae McKinney, Griff Barnett, Frederick O'Neal, Evelyn Varden, Raymond Greenleaf

Genre:

Drama