In 1955, Edna Ferber is basking in the success of her blockbuster novel, Giant. Now in the final days of the filming of her Texas oil epic, Edna looks forward to meeting Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor, and especially young James Dean. But trouble is brewing. James Dean, the new box-office sensation and teen heartthrob, has been accused of fathering a child with a young extra. The studio fears that the negative publicity will jeopardize the release of the movie. Then the actress is murdered, and James Dean is the prime suspect.

Edna, with character-actress Mercedes McCambridge as her sympathetic sidekick, investigates the killing, determined to clear Dean’s name. But she soon uncovers the dark underside of glittering Hollywood and unearths a powerful studio obsessed with cover up, she fears that the truth may be worse than she could have imagined.