Lillian Hellman was one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century and a voice of social consciousness in American letters. Her blunt, forceful talent spawned a dozen plays, 11 movies, and five books. This documentary explores the author's extraordinary life and career-from a New Orleans childhood populated by eccentric and avaricious relatives who later appeared, only thinly disguised, in her plays, to her turbulent 30-year romantic relationship with fellow writer Dashiell Hammett.