Lelia, a young African-American girl with a light complexion, meets Tony at a party and they spark a romance. Their relationship crumbles when Tony meets Lelia’s brother Hugh, a talented dark-skinned jazz singer struggling to find work, and he discovers the truth about Lelia’s racial heritage.

A breath of fresh air that changed independent filmmaking forever, John Cassavetes’s monumental debut rebels against Hollywood’s formulas and commercial imperatives. Grooving to the jazzy swing of downtown New York, Shadows also tackles the racial intolerance that undercuts the chic social scene.