Judy Holliday won the 1950 Best Actress Oscar for her brilliant and funny role as Billie Dawn, the dumb blonde girlfriend of Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford), a corrupt millionaire junk dealer. Brock, a man with social ambitions and a willingness to do anything to fulfill them, is embarrassed by Billie's crass behavior and lack of social sophistication. So he arranges for her to take a crash course in culture from a handsome, young journalist (William Holden). Billie blossoms under his kind tutelage and becomes increasingly aware of her role as a pawn in Brock's crooked business deals. Brock is surprised and outraged when Billie suddenly refuses to cooperate any longer.