Norma Jeane Mortenson battles a lonely existence with an absent mother; Norma Jeane blossoms into an ambitious woman and reinvents herself; Marilyn Monroe tries to control her inner demons and the onslaught of mental illness inherited from her mother. As Marilyn Monroe cares for her mother, her obsession with President John F. Kennedy drives her over the edge; Marilyn Monroe gives the performance of her life, successfully hiding her dark secrets from the world.