A family celebrates the sixty-fifth birthday of plantation owner Big Daddy. The mood is somber, despite the festivities, because a number of evils poison the gaiety: greed, sins of the past and desperate, clawing hopes for the future spar with one another as the knowledge that Big Daddy is dying slowly makes the rounds. Maggie wants to give Big Daddy the news that she's finally become pregnant by his favorite son, Brick, but Brick won't cooperate in her plans. Swarming around them are their intrusive, conniving relatives, all eager to see Maggie put in her place and Brick tumbled from his position of most-beloved son.