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Read the complete plot breakdown of A Lost Lady (1934), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Ned Phillip Reed and Marian Barbara Stanwyck, soon to be married, are confronted by a man after leaving a formal party; the man accuses Ned of having an affair with his wife and shoots Ned dead. Marian travels to a resort in the Canadian Rockies, hoping to overcome her emotional withdrawal. One day while walking alone, she falls from a ledge and injures her leg. She is discovered and rescued by Dan Frank Morgan Forrester and his dog Sandy. Dan visits Marian every day, although she remains upset about her fiancé’s death. Before he returns home, Dan asks Marian to marry him. She refuses at first, telling him that she does not love him, but he is undeterred. At the last moment, she changes her mind and accepts his proposal. However, after the wedding, they sleep in separate bedrooms.
Dan Frank Morgan and Marian move to Chicago, where he heads a successful law firm. He pampers Marian, building her a mansion in the country, and helps her to overcome her depression. One day, pilot Frank Ellinger Ricardo Cortez is forced to perform an emergency landing on the Forrester estate after his airplane’s fuel supply is depleted. Mistaking Marian for a servant, Frank grabs and kisses her. She slaps him in the face and leaves, but emotions are stirred within her.
Marian and Frank meet unexpectedly at a social event. She rejects his advances, but he persists. When Dan travels to New York for three weeks on business, Frank sees her every day, and Marian soon falls in love with him. When Dan returns, Marian tells him the news, and he is devastated and cannot sleep, although he has a major corporate case set for trial the following day. At the trial, he collapses and suffers a heart attack. Marian, who had already packed her belongings to begin a life with Frank, refuses to leave Dan’s side in spite of Frank’s pressure. She realizes that she has finally come to love her husband, and she tells him so.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:09
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