Mr. Skeffington

Fanny Trellis, a spoiled beauty, learns her brother Trippy has embezzled money. To shield him from prosecution, she marries Job Skeffington, a lovestruck suitor who adores her. The marriage disgusts Trippy, who, feeling insulted by Skeffington's Jewish background, leaves home to fight in World War I.

Shortly after the marriage, Trippy departs to France to fight in World War I as part of the Lafayette Escadrille. He does so partly out of disgust with the arrangement and the prejudice he harbors toward Skeffington. This departure leaves the couple's relationship emotionally strained.

Fanny becomes pregnant with Job's child, sealing a family arrangement she tolerates rather than loves. Job remains affectionate toward her, but she coolly tolerates him and maintains her social life separately. The pregnancy intensifies the loveless dynamic at the heart of their marriage.

Trippy dies in France during the war, a blow that forces Fanny to confront her situation. She tells herself she is now 'stuck' with Job, and their marriage becomes wholly loveless, kept only for the child's sake. Job continues to care for her in name, even as affection fades.

Job and Fanny's cousin George Trellis enlist in the war and are stationed near home. Job grows distant, finding solace with his secretaries while the marriage frays further. The war reshapes the family as loyalties shift and bitterness grows.

Fanny embraces the role of a wealthy socialite, flitting between suitors and maintaining her public image. She indulges in affairs and keeps up appearances, even as her marriage falters. After catching diphtheria, which ravages her looks, she denials it and hosts a party inviting her old lovers to witness that she is still desirable.

Upon discovering she is pregnant, Fanny divorces Job, preferring independence and social life over their faltering union. She ignores her own culpability, maintaining her lifestyle as a marker of status. The divorce leaves Job to face parenthood apart from the woman he loved.

Fanny's young daughter is born; the child grows up with her loving father while Fanny continues her life of privilege. The daughter begs Job to take her with him to Europe, and he reluctantly agrees, despite his fears about prejudice she would face abroad as a Jew. The family continues to navigate a world unsettled by war and prejudice.

As the Nazis rise, Fanny's daughter returns from Europe seeking a new life, while she marries Johnny Mitchell, a much younger man, and the couple leaves for Seattle. The daughter speaks of loving her mother but seeing a loveless legacy, while confronting prejudice and the costs of wealth. The family faces a new era of danger and displacement.

One of Fanny's old suitors makes a marriage proposal, but withdraws it when he suspects she is no longer wealthy. The scene exposes the fragility of her status and the emptiness of her vanity. Fanny experiences a crushing moment of humiliation that foreshadows her later reckoning.

Cousin George returns Job to Fanny's home unannounced, revealing that the Nazis have left him penniless and broken. She hesitates, her vanity nearly keeping her from coming down to greet him. The moment sets the stage for a final reckoning about wealth, worth, and humanity.

Entering the parlor, Job moves toward her, stumbles, and is revealed to be blind from torture in a Nazi concentration camp. Fanny rushes to cradle him as he adjusts his arm, and he tells her, 'Mr. Skeffington has come home.' The moment redefines beauty as being loved, and George remarks that she has never looked more beautiful.