The Gay Sisters

The Gaylord sisters—Fiona, Evelyn, and Susie—are orphaned when their mother dies aboard the Lusitania. Their father, Major Penn Gaylord, soon ships off to France to fight in World War I. The loss marks the start of a life spent under legal and financial strain as the family navigates a war-torn world.

Penn Gaylord is killed while serving in France during World War I, leaving the estate to be managed in his absence. The inheritance, valued at hundreds of millions, becomes a fragile thread that must survive generations of probate and lawsuits. The sisters face an uncertain future with the family fortune effectively in limbo.

Despite vast wealth, the Gaylords’ half‑billion estate remains tied up in lengthy probate for decades. The sisters must borrow money just to keep up their Fifth Avenue mansion and maintain appearances. The legal wrangling begins to define their lives as much as any romance or ambition.

A French charity asserts that Penn crafted a later will leaving 10% of the estate to it, adding another layer to the probate battle. The Gaylords consider dropping the claim to move forward, but the dispute heightens tensions over money, land, and power. The courtroom murk deepens the family’s fractures.

Evelyn returns from England, where she is married to an English nobleman fighting in the RAF. She becomes entangled with Gig Young, the painter, and begins to scheme to win him away from Susie. The tension in the household intensifies as past loyalties collide with present desires.

Susie is in love with Gig Young, despite being married herself. Gig refuses to grant an annulment unless Susie pays him a substantial sum, a fortune she does not possess. The love triangle adds emotional peril to the already fragile family dynamics.

Six years before 1941, after an aunt dies and leaves Fiona money to be disbursed upon marriage, she engineers a sham union with a cousin. She targets Charles Barclay, then a road-construction foreman, drawn to a man who might be available and pliable. The setup seeds the future conflict over Austin and the estate.

On their wedding night, Fiona pretends to faint, using deception to push the marriage forward. Charles returns with medicine and discovers she has orchestrated the union. He forces her to consummate the marriage, binding them together in a complicated, coercive union.

Fiona gives birth to a son, Austin, and has him raised by a trusted nurse. Though Charles is aware of the child, the truth remains carefully guarded. The child becomes a focal point of the family’s legal and emotional battles.

When the nurse dies, Fiona brings the now six-year-old Austin to live with her at the mansion. She grows increasingly fond of the boy, who represents both hope and a reminder of the complicated past she shares with Charles. The child’s presence reshapes family loyalties.

In 1941, Fiona fires her longtime lawyer Hershell Gibbon for appearing too sympathetic to Charles and hires Ralph Pedloch to replace him. The personnel change signals a shift in how aggressively she will pursue or concede in the probate case. The courtroom becomes a stage for old grievances and new strategies.

During the proceedings, it is revealed that Fiona and Charles have a long, shadowy history. She manipulated him into proposing, and he knows about Austin, adding complexity to the custody and inheritance dispute. The revelation cracks the veneer of respectability that surrounded them.

Overwhelmed by the toll the battle has taken on her family, Fiona decides not to fight for the mansion any longer. She grants Charles sole custody of Austin, choosing a more practical, albeit painful, path forward. The estate loses its symbolic grip on the sisters' lives.

Susie, fearing the loss of Gig, attempts suicide. In a turn of events, Gig ultimately chooses Susie, offering her the possibility of happiness again. The act marks a crucial emotional pivot for the surviving relationships within the family.

In the film’s finale, Charles tells Fiona that he still loves her, and she responds with an embrace and kiss. Gig’s commitment to Susie closes the triangle with a hopeful, if fragile, sense of reconciliation. The story ends with a mix of forgiveness, longing, and uncertain happiness.