Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity) directs one of the all-time greatest films about Hollywood, following a screenwriter (William Holden) who develops a dangerous relationship with a silent-era movie star (Gloria Swanson) determined to make a triumphant comeback to the silver screen in 1950s Hollywood.

Norma Desmond, an aging silent actress, refuses to accept that her stardom has ended. When she hires a young screenwriter to help set up her movie comeback, the pair become entangled in a web of violence, madness, and death.