In 1920, Elsa Emerson is born in Door County, Wisconsin. Her family owns the Cherry County Playhouse, and Elsa relishes appearing onstage. But when tragedy strikes her family, acting becomes more than a child's game of pretend. Elsa marries and flees to Los Angeles. There she is discovered by Irving Green, who refashions her and renames her Laura Lamont. Laura experiences all the glamour of the heady pinnacle of stardom in the studio-system era, but ultimately her story is a timeless one.
