A tearjerker about mothers who work hard to provide for their daughters. Bea Pullman's brief marriage leaves her with a baby and the need to earn a living. She takes over her dead husband's business and we follow her as it grows with the help of Delilah, the Black nanny she hires to care for her baby, Jessie. Delilah, who probably looks like Aunt Jemima, is also recently widowed and has a baby girl, Peola, whose skin is as light as her light-skinned father. Peola keeps trying to pass as white and SPOILER eventually tells her mother that they must never see each other again. Bea falls in love with a man eight years younger than she is, but he and Jessie love each other. Bea is left with her father, who had a severe stroke and is unable to communicate. So, while Bea is outwardly a successful business woman, her personal life is tragic. There have been two movie versions; they change a lot. ( )