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 Whitfield) can't emotionally detach herself from an untrustworthy husband; life in the fast lane 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 executive produced), a woman with an unshakable resolve to create a better life for herself and those she loves.

Based on Gloria Naylor's novel, THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE is the rare made-for-tv feature that provides numerous deeply drawn and affecting characters and entertains. Aided immeasurably by star turns from Oprah, Cicely Tyson, and, of course, Jackee, director Donna Deitch's intensely moving film is nothing less than a resounding success. Following the lives of seven women who live in a bleak tenement and struggle to rise above their surroundings, THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE succeeds both as an important reminder of the difficulties of being black and poor in America, and as a heartfelt and entertaining story about human determination in the face of adversity.