As an actress for Warner Brothers in Hollywood, Bridget "Bridie" Donnelly became famous and went through a series of husbands. Her third husband, director Frank Majors, whom the dysfunctional Bridie married in 1964, is the father of her two children. The oldest, Lilly, was a smart child who smiled constantly. Leigh, the serious one, didn't smile until the age of three. With their mother always in the limelight, Lilly and Leigh severely lacked attention. Lilly, devoted to Leigh, did her best to protect her.

When Lilly is killed in an accident, Leigh is left to fend for herself. Living in the shadow of her famous mother and director father, Leigh grows up to become a director-in- residence at Wonderland Theater. For her birthday, Leigh's husband, Michael, surprises her with a play he's written. "Women in Hats" is a story of his family and his mother's hat shop. When Leigh decides to produce Michael's play, she's manipulated into casting her mother in the lead, but then forced to fire Bridie before the opening. Leigh must learn to live as an independent person of worth and to confront her past conflicts with her mother.

WOMEN IN HATS starts a little slow but becomes more interesting as the story progresses and the characters are fully defined. Leigh is a strong woman who finally confronts her problems head on. The difficulties of being raised as the child of a famous celebrity is thoroughly portrayed to reveal the loneliness this child endured and gives an insight into the difficult life of the famous.