Rachel, having grown tired of mediocre roles in her films threatens to walk out on Sylver Screen Pictures. Leo calms her down and promises her the lead in a major new film, but she is infuriated when she discovers that the part has gone to Barbara Stanwyck instead. In a bitter confrontation, Rachel informs Leo that she's walking, but Leo responds by telling her that her contract is ironclad and that she can't get work anywhere without his permission. Meanwhile, the lead part in Rachel's current picture falls to Norma, who tortures Charlie with dozens of re-write notes, and Victor takes Fabian under his wing in order to get him into good physical shape for the company picnic.
Victor is starring in Charlie's adaptation of ""The Private Life of Oscar Wilde,"" but Leo nearly has a heart attack when the film's director informs him of the scandalous details of Wilde's life. Fearing the potential damage to Victor's career, not to mention the censors, Leo orders Charlie to sanitize the story, and turn Wilde into a lusty, masculine heterosexual male! As Mary engages in an affair with the picture's director, Norma has a difficult time convincing Mary that he's also made strong advances towards her. Equally frustrated is Fabian, whose ex-wife Cleo has suddenly re-entered his life.
Danny Matthews , a masculine leading man at Sylver Screen Pictures runs afoul Leo and the Hollywood press for being too open and public about his homosexuality. Sweeney and Leo concoct a plan to deal with this situation decisively, have him get married. He finds a willing companion in Rachel, who is only too happy to wed her dear friend to save his career. But after a bachelor party ends with Danny soliciting a male police officer, he and Leo have a final confrontation, which ends his career and reveals some shocking information about Fabian.
After years of hard living, Colin Rhome passes away in the presence of his friends. Mary, grieving for Colin, takes it upon herself to inform June about her father. Furious at Mary for denying her the chance to know him, she storms off. Meanwhile, Sweeney and Leo cook up a huge publicity stunt, as all of Hollywood must come to Sylver Screen Pictures for the funeral of Colin Rhome, to be held on a giant soundstage. Fabian, Norma and Mary have other plans for the late Colin Rhome, as they whisk away his body from the mortuary and take him to a local restaurant. Sweeney is terrified when he discovers that the corpse has disappeared while a traumatized June is given a chance to have ""one last drink with her father.""
Out on a wild ride with Victor Mansfield, Rachel's car is wrecked, sending the beloved leading lady through the windshield and into a coma. Leo and Sweeney, anxious to protect their investment in the up-and-coming leading man, pay off everyone, from the cops, to the hospital staff, to gossip columnist Letitia Devine, to keep it quiet, issuing a statement that Rachel has been hospitalized for an appendectomy. Rachel's friends back on the lot find their own ways to cope with the tragedy. However, Victor's guilt is inconsolable. Unscathed by the accident, he defies studio orders to stay away from the hospital, and sneaks into Rachel's room, where he's spotted by her bedside. A quick call to journalist Milton Maxwell and the studio's cover story is blown – along with Victor's career.