A Patch of Blue - Plot

Plot

Selina D'Arcey (Elizabeth Hartman) is an 18-year-old blind girl living with her prostitute mother Rose-Ann (Shelley Winters) and drunkard grandfather Ol' Pa (Wallace Ford), who both work in a hotel, in a tiny apartment of a large city. She strings beads for a living, and spends her days cleaning the apartment, washing and ironing her mother's and grandfather's clothes, and preparing their supper. Her mother is abusive towards her, while her grandfather is mostly ignorant of Selina's mother's behavior. Selina lives an under privileged life with no friends, education or social life.

One day Mr. Faber, for whom Selina strings the beads, takes Selina to a nearby park where she sits under a tree and starts stringing beads, when a caterpillar drops inside her back. She cries for help, and Gordon Ralfe (Sidney Poitier), an educated and soft-spoken black man working in night shifts in an office, stops by to help her. Selina quickly befriends him and asks Gordon whether she is ugly (as her mother often refers to her face as being "messed up"). Gordon learns that she was blinded at the age of 5 when Rose-Ann threw chemicals on her while attempting to hit her husband. Gordon immediately develops sympathy and compassion for Selina. At a department store, he buys a pair of sunglasses to cover Selina's eye scars. Gordon feels even more sympathy for Selina when he offers her pineapple juice and she fails to recognize what that 'wonderful drink' was. She also tells him that she has never attended school, has been taught very little, and has never heard of braille.

On returning home, Rose-Ann confronts Selina for not preparing dinner on time and slaps her. She also confiscates her glasses.

The next day, Mr. Faber comes to the apartment and helps Selena find her glasses. He then takes her to the park, where she again meets Gordon. Seeing that she has only a few crackers for lunch, Gordon takes her to a restaurant, also teaching her how to navigate busy city sidewalks, tell directions by the sun, and find the restroom in the park. Gordon receives stares from white people for being with a white young woman.

One day, Rose-Ann's friend and fellow prostitute Sadie realizes that Selina is young and can be useful in their business. Meanwhile, Selina is falling in love with Gordon and cries in the park when he is late showing up. Gordon gives her a lesson in how to shop for groceries and brings her to his house. Gordon's brother Mark objects to Gordon bringing a white girl home. Gordon explains that she is just a friend and needs help. Selina likes the music box that was given to Gordon by his grandmother Pearl. Selina tells him that she also had a friend named Pearl once, but that Rose-Ann forbade their friendship because she was black (unaware that Gordon is black too). She also tells Gordon that she knows what lovemaking is, as once she was raped by a man who was her mother's client.

The next morning, Rose-Ann urges Ol' Pa not to take Selina to the park, and he agrees. Disheartened, Selina tries to navigate along busy city sidewalks to the park by herself, but fails and returns home. Meanwhile, a worried Gordon calls Mr. Faber, who sends his son to Selina and delivers Gordon's message to meet the next day. The son offers to take Selina to the park the next day. On meeting Selina there, Gordon teaches her how to use a pay telephone and gives her his number. They also share a kiss but eventually Gordon backs out. Mark, on finding Selina at their house again, gets angry at Gordon and tells him his interracial relationship is wrong. Meanwhile, Rose-Ann and Sadie decide to move to a new place, leaving Ol' Pa behind and taking Selina with them to force her into prostitution. Selina the next day finds herself abandoned at her usual place in the park during a thunderstorm, and panics until Gordon appears to lead her home. Rose-Ann sees her with him in the park and tells her that Gordon is black. In their apartment, hearing Rose-Ann insult Gordon, Selina loses her temper and fights with Rose-Ann. Rose-Ann beats her, and Ol' Pa comes to her rescue but gets beaten too. The next morning, Rose-Ann tells Selina that they are moving and will leave Ol' Pa behind. Selina refuses and offers to stay behind and look after Ol' Pa. In the meantime, Gordon has contacted a blind school which is ready to take Selina. While Rose-Ann is away, Selina runs away to the park and meets Gordon. She tells Gordon about the plan, and he assures her that she will be leaving for a school in 2–3 days. However, Selina wants to be with Gordon rather than going to school. Finding Selina missing from the house, Rose-Ann takes Ol' Pa to the park and confronts Gordon. Despite Rose-Ann's resistance, Gordon manages to take Selina away, and Ol' Pa stops Rose-Ann, telling her that Selina is not a kid anymore.

At Gordon's house, Selina asks Gordon to marry her, to which Gordon replies that there are many types of love, and she will later realize that their relationship won't work. Selina tells him that she loves him, and realizes that he is black, and that it doesn't bother her. He then tells her they will wait one year to find out if their love will lead to marriage. Meanwhile, the school bus arrives to pick up Selina. They say their goodbyes, but shortly after she walks out the door to the bus Gordon remembers she forgot the music box and races down the stairs after her. He sees he's too late and that the bus is driving away and wistfully tosses the box in the air, catching it with a smile.