Mr. Holroyd is an alcoholic, abusive miner in pre-WWI England who terrorizes his family. Mrs. Holroyd plans to run away with her would-be lover when Mr. Holroyd dies in a mining accident, leaving the family torn with guilt over their hatred of the dead man. Geraldine Page and Rex Robins star.

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.