Karen and Martha are the headmistresses of an exclusive school for girls. When they discipline a malicious little girl, the vindictive child twists an overheard comment into slander and accuses her teachers of questionable behavior. Soon the scandalous gossip engulfs the school's community, with repercussions that are swift, crushing... and tragic...

Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) and Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) are just beginning to succeed in their struggle to make the Wright-Dobie School for Girls a going concern. Karen believes she will soon be able to marry Joe Cardin (James Garner). However, Karen has to discipline Mary Tilford (Karen Balkin). Mary always wants her own way and, worse, is a congenital liar. Mary complains to her grandmother Mrs. Tilford (Fay Bainter) and to lend strength to her complaint, Mary repeats part of a conversation that she overheard, but barely understood--a conversation in which Martha's aunt Lily (Miriam Hopkins) accused Martha of having an unnatural attachment to Karen. Mrs. Tilford is horrified and spreads the word to the parents of the other girls--with disastrous results.
THE CHILDREN'S HOUR is William Wyler's second version of Lillian Hellman's controversial 1934 Broadway play. In Wyler's first version, THESE THREE, made in 1936, the lesbian theme was entirely suppressed. In contrast, THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, somewhat belatedly, allowed the theme out of Hollywood's closet. THE CHILDREN'S HOUR is clearly set in the 1960s but retains many of the 1930s attitudes toward lesbianism--the result is a movie that hovers curiously between the two.