Joe Gillis es un joven escritor de segunda fila que, acosado por sus acreedores, se refugia casualmente en la mansión de Norma Desmond, antigua estrella del cine mudo, que vive fuera de la realidad, acompañada únicamente de su fiel criado Max. A partir de ese momento, la actriz pretende que Joe corrija un guión que ella ha escrito y que va a significar su regreso al cine.

Hollywood hopeful Peggy Pepper arrives at a major studio, from Georgia, to become a great dramatic star. Things don't go entirely according to plan.

An aging silent movie comic star throws a lavish party to try and save his failing career.

Joe is a cynical screenplay writer disenchanted by his ill luck on the Hollywood scene. Norma is a washed-up silent-film star who didn't survive the transition to talking pictures. Together they begin a strange, mostly psychological, affair in her decaying house on Sunset Boulevard. Film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on the iconic 1950 film.