Academy Award winners Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint and Karl Malden star with three-time Academy Award nominee Angela Lansbury in a deeply moving coming-of-age story adapted by Academy Award winning playwright William Inge. Adolescent Clinton Willart (Brandon de Wilde) idolizes his callous, narcissistic older brother, Berry-Berry (Beatty). When the Willart family takes in Echo O'Brien (Saint) as a boarder, Berry-Berry forces himself on the young woman. Echo soon discovers she is pregnant and Berry-Berry is the father, but his heartless treatment drives her to suicide--to the horror of young Clinton, who has grown to love Echo.