In a quiet North Carolina town, Carolyne Lovejoy, Diahann Carroll, a devoted schoolteacher who also lends her voice to the church choir, finds herself entangled in a tense affair with Rev. Henderson, Dick Anthony Williams, the married pastor who has just been elected as a state senator. The relationship tests her sense of duty and the community’s expectations as rumors begin to swirl around the small town.
When Carolyne returns from church, she encounters her younger sister Sissy, Irene Cara, still living at home with her boyfriend Tommy, E. Lamont Johnson. At twenty, Sissy longs to become a professional ice skater, a dream that clashes with Carolyne’s wish for her to pursue a steadier path, like becoming a schoolteacher. The siblings’ clash over ambition, care, and loyalty sets the stage for escalating family tension.
Into this already fragile dynamic arrives Frieda, Rosalind Cash, their estranged sister who has spent years in inner-city Detroit. She comes back with her twelve-year-old son Danny, Kristoff St. John, and the pair decide to stay for a while to give Danny a chance at a fresh start after his trouble with the law in Detroit. The house is a shared legacy left by their late father, and Frieda’s arrival stirs old wounds while she helps push the family toward a new arrangement.
Frieda quickly takes center stage as the family’s troubled black sheep, challenging Carolyne’s self-image as the moral 'pillar' of the household. The tension intensifies when Frieda seduces the reverend, adding a volatile strand to an already fraught domestic situation. This betrayal forces Carolyne to confront the limits of her own virtue and the complexity of the relationships around her, while Sissy watches the drama unfold with a mix of awe and fear.
As revelations about their father arise—namely that he never truly wanted another daughter, hoping instead for a son, a belief tied to a painful family history—the sisters’ bonds fray further. Their mother’s role in these hopes surfaces as well, adding a layer of tragedy to the already explosive dynamics of the house. A heated, decisive catfight between Frieda and Carolyne marks a turning point, underscoring the depth of their resentments and the fragility of their unity.
Ultimately, the women face divergent paths: Sissy chooses to leave for New York, seeking her own future, while Frieda decides to remain in North Carolina and work toward rebuilding a relationship with Carolyne. The film closes on a note of precarious reconciliation and unresolved echoes, as the sisters step into uncertain futures while clinging to the threads of family that still bind them.
