Ruthless Eva Phillips (Crawford) dominates her Georgia mansion and her husband Avery (Sullivan), an alcoholic mill owner who hates his wife. A cousin, Jennifer Stewart (Lucy Marlow), visits and watches in horror as Eva maneuvers to prevent the marriage of Avery’s sister Carol (Palmer) to Judson Prentiss (Ireland). Judson was once Eva’s lover, and, when Carol learns the truth, commits suicide. Jennifer and Avery are drawn together. When Eva senses the developing relationship, she increases her malevolent actions. Judson, guilty over Carol’s death and determined to avenge it, takes Eva driving and when Eva discerns from Judson’s conversations that he wants her dead, she frantically attacks him resulting in a crash over a cliff, killing them both. Jennifer and Avery are free to love each other. —wikipedia
I simply adore that scene when Joan Crawford slaps Jennifer, it's utterly poetic. Mrs. Crawford was an unstoppable bitch, you can't just ignore her female power...
More fun than probably any Joan Crawford movie. She fulfills all the expectations newcomers have of her--scenery chewing, bitchiness, bulldozing her way around, posing for the camera---but the surprise is always that she's damn good in the role, and not just some camp icon.