A nuclear test in the Pacific results in the death of an angel. The philosophical questions regarding the angel's message are explored by an army general who witnesses and believes in the incident.
A flashy, irresponsible widower tries to make ends meet running a seedy Florida hotel and raising his son. Problems arise when the boy's aunt and uncle want to take him away.
A minor novelist becomes a literary sensation when he pretends that the flimsy story he wrote in one night as really the diary of a simple Australian girl's first love.
A Southern family faces new challenges as their once successful stature as wealthy land and slave owners have disintegrated to the point that only the Black housekeeper is the solid foundation of the family.