Middle-aged actress Victoria Maxwell comes to terms with her destructive lifestyle as she struggles with the lead role in a Broadway-bound play. Matters are complicated by the fact that she is co-starring opposite her estranged husband, Allen Grant, whom she never stopped loving. As the drama begins, Sydney Lowe, a Broadway director, is eager to hire Victoria Maxwell to star in his production of "Thundering Wave," written by his friend Lew Downs, an accomplished writer. Maxwell agrees to take the part, but insists that Sydney hire Grant to play opposite her. Sydney is thrilled with the suggestion since he was hoping to cast Grant, anyway. Grant, however, is not eager to take the part. He finally accepts it, however, in order to give his daughter Louise, who is practically engaged, some freedom from her overbearing mother. On the train ride to Boston where the show will premiere, Maxwell starts to get cold feet and angers Sydney when she pretends to be ill. Grant goes to her compartment to comfort her, but winds up telling her to grow up and stop depending on him for support. On opening night, things get progressively worse when Sydney's wife, Marcia, arrives in Boston to tell him she wants a divorce. After fifteen years of marriage, she has learned of his frequent indiscretions with other women. Upset by Marcia's request for a divorce, Sydney gets drunk, and then, needing to lash out at someone, tells Maxwell that she is doing a rotten job. Needless to say, opening night does not go well, and the notices in the newspapers reflect the disaster. However, when the show reaches New York, things change dramatically both on-stage and off. (The Paley Center for Media)
