Gene Kelly plays Don Lockwood, a silent film star with humble roots as a musician, dancer and stunt man. Don barely tolerates his vapid, spoiled leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), who is convinced their screen romance is real. After the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, proves to be a smash hit, the head of the studio, R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell), decides he has no choice but to convert the new Lockwood and Lamont film, The Dueling Cavalier, into a talkie. The production is beset with difficulties (most, if not all, taken from real life), by far the worst being Lina's comically grating voice and thick New York accent.