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Irene Rich heads the cast of this lachrymose "mother love" drama. Rich is cast as Sylvia "Dearie" Darling, a nightclub entertainer who willingly sacrifices her own health, wealth and happiness for the sake of her son Stephen (William Collier Jr.) Alas, the ungrateful boy grows up despising his mother, doing everything he can to humiliate her once he comes of age. Only when tragedy looms over the horizon does Stephen comes to his senses. The film is told in flashback, as the repentant Stephen unfolds his life story to publisher Samuel Manley (Anders Randolph). Dearie is the sort of high-gloss soap opera that would become the province of such actresses as Ruth Chatterton, Ann Harding and Kay Francis in the 1930s.