Based on Gloria Naylor’s novel, The Women of Brewster Place examines a group of strong-willed women, neighbors in the same slum, who all have been adversely affected by misguided idealism.

Luciela (Lynn Whitefield) can’t emotionally detach herself from an untrustworthy husband; life in the fast land has run aground for Etta Mae (Jackee) after the bright lights of New York City have turned dim; Kiswana (Robin Givens) has renounced her middle class roots, bringing her into conflict with her mother (Cicely Tyson).

Serving as matriarch and providing the emotional glue for these women is Mattie Michael (Oprah Winfrey, who also produced), a woman with an unshakable resolve to create a better life for herself and those she loves.