Daisy Kenyon

Daisy Kenyon Joan Crawford is a Manhattan commercial artist who begins an affair with the arrogant, overbearing and successful lawyer Dan O’Mara Dana Andrews, who is married and has two children. His wife Lucille O’Mara Ruth Warrick fights constantly about his job, the upbringing of their two daughters, and his cheating.

That same night, Dan takes his wife and 13-year-old daughter to New York’s Stork Club, where Daisy and Peter Lapham Henry Fonda are waiting to be seated. Daisy and Peter leave immediately; Peter announces that he loves Daisy and leaves.

Peter stands her up for their next date, but he comes by later, unannounced, and proposes. Daisy realizes that he is still in love with his late wife, a feeling that complicates the path they choose to tread together.

Although she is still in love with Dan, Daisy marries Peter after a brief and hesitant courtship. She supports Peter’s postwar career, and Peter himself is moody, sometimes quiet and withholding, sometimes wildly exuberant, a man who carries the weight of his own memories as he builds a life with her.

Eventually, Daisy feels as if she has gotten over Dan. Finally fed up with Dan’s cheating, Lucille wants a divorce, and she uses full custody of the children as leverage to hurt Dan. Dan asks Peter and Daisy to allow him to reveal the full details of his former relationship with Daisy during the divorce proceedings, but Peter says that he will not stand in Daisy’s way: when they first met, he needed her, but he no longer does, and he leaves.

The trial begins, but Dan can see how much it is hurting Daisy, so he stops the proceedings and asks Peter to sign divorce papers, though Daisy did not request them. Daisy goes to her house on Cape Cod to work, and Dan calls from the train station to say he is bringing Peter to settle things. Panicking, Daisy flees. Her car skids on the icy road and rolls over, and she walks 2 miles through the snow to the cottage, where Dan and Peter are playing cards. She wants both of them to leave.

After a tense moment, Peter goes out to the waiting cab. Daisy is appalled to learn that Dan gave up the children to obtain his divorce and admits that she stopped loving him. Dan goes out to the cab. Peter steps out, saying that he is going home to his wife, and returns to the house, where he and Daisy toast their future and embrace.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 10:50