In a flashback to 1928, Billie is working as a housekeeper in a brothel in Baltimore where she is raped. She runs away to her mother, who sets up a job cleaning for another brothel in the Harlem section of New York. The brothel is run by an arrogant, selfish owner who pays Billie very little money.

• Lady Sings the Blues
• Diana Ross
• Billy Dee Williams
• Richard Pryor
• Sidney J Furie