Small-minded small town 1950's mores threaten a youthful romance in this sudsy melodrama based on the play Teach Me How to Cry by Patricia Joudry and reminiscent of the previous year's Peyton Place (1957). Sandra Dee stars as Melinda Grant, an illegitimate girl facing the stigma of being a fatherless child in the rigidly judgmental atmosphere of her hometown. Melinda's problems are further compounded by the fact that her mother Elizabeth (Teresa Wright) is a neurotic woman slowly losing her mental grip. Then Melinda meets Will Henderson (John Saxon), the new boy in town, and the two fall in love. Will is from the wrong side of the tracks, however, and his down-on-his-luck father Ed (James Whitmore) doesn't do much to improve the family's reputation. Local tongues are soon wagging over the Melinda-Will romance, casting its future in doubt.