Maya Angelou's story of the family stresses that occur when an older sister (Diahann Carroll) attempts to maintain a home, left by her revered father, in an ultra-moralistic way (regardless of the fact that she is secretly having an affair with the married preacher). Nevertheless, her uptight need to maintain a sense of propriety of course goes against the wishes of her much younger sister (Irene Cara) who, as an accomplished ice skater, is striving for her own independence.