A young woman marries a fascinating widower only to discover that she lives in the shadow of his former deceased wife, Rebecca. The young wife must also deal with the jealous, obsessed housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.

Daisy Kenyon is a Manhattan commercial artist having an affair with an arrogant and overbearing but successful lawyer named Dan O’Mara. O’Mara is married and has children. Daisy meets a single man, a war veteran named Peter Lapham, and after a brief and hesitant courtship decides to marry him, although she is still in love with Dan.