“Imitation of Life” begins when single mothers, Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) and Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore) meet at the beach in Brooklyn and strike up a friendship. Lora is raising her daughter Susie (Sandra Dee) while Annie is raising her daughter Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner). Lora is an aspiring actress who desperately needs a housekeeper and someone to watch Susie when she’s working. Annie happily accepts a job as live-in caretaker because she is sorely in need of money. Lora and Susie are white. Annie and her daughter are black, although Sarah Jane is very light-skinned. Noticing the differences in how society treats each family seemingly based on race, Sarah Jane at age 18 reinvents herself and passes for white to all her new friends. This appalls her mother, which eventually causes a huge riff between this mother and daughter.
Meanwhile, Susie has grown up too and she begins dating Steve (John Gavin). an older and more experienced man. Lora is becoming more successful in her acting career and is home less and less. This leaves Susie often with nobody with whom to turn for relationship advice. Her and John have their problems and Susie resents her mother not being there for her to get her mother’s advice. Will there be time enough to mend these broken relationships before it’s too late?