Plot
Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) is an affluent widow in suburban New England, whose social life involves her country club peers, college-age children, and a couple of men vying for her affection.
She becomes interested in Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), her family's gardener and a down-to-earth, younger man. Ron is content with his simple life outside of judgmental society, and the two fall in love. Ron introduces her to other people who have no need for wealth and status, and she responds positively. Cary accepts his proposal for marriage, but becomes distressed when her friends and children look down upon and reject her for this socially unacceptable marriage. Cary breaks off the marriage when her children threaten to abandon her, and she and Ron continue their separate lives in sorrow.
As Cary's social life returns to its original state, she notices other women becoming engaged and living lives of happiness. Even her own children are soon to leave the family home. Cary realizes that she is ready to defy social norms and commit to loving Ron. She rushes to his side when he has a life-threatening accident, telling him that she has come home.
Read more about this topic: All That Heaven Allows
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“Those blessed structures, plot and rhyme—
why are they no help to me now
I want to make
something imagined, not recalled?”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)
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—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)