Matt Drayton (Spencer Tracy, in his last film) and wife Christina (Katharine Hepburn) are lost for words when their daughter, Joey (Katharine Houghton), returns from her Hawaiian holiday with a fiancé in tow. What shocks them is not so much that Joey is to wed, but that her proposed husband - research scientist John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) - is black. The Draytons have always believed themselves to be broad-minded people, but find this put to the test when John says that the wedding will not go ahead without their whole-hearted approval. Writer William Rose and actress Katharine Hepburn won Oscars whilst the film was also nominated for a further six.