Janet Gaynor portrays Esther Blodgett, a starry-eyed small town girl with a dream of making it big in Hollywood. Facing only rejection, Esther chances into meeting movie idol Norman Maine, played by the incomparable Fredric March. With Norman's help, Esther gets a screen test and, re-christened Vicki Lester, finds herself immediately skyrocketing to fame.



With romance and subsequent marriage, the couple seem set for a story-book ending, but Hollywood is a capricious and sometimes cruel master. Norman, his own fame sinking, lands in a self-destructive alcoholic depression from which true love and Tinseltown fantasy may not be able to rescue him.