In 1962, in Jackson, Mississippi, as the civil-rights movement is boiling over, a privileged young white woman, Skeeter (Emma Stone), in rebellion against her social set, begins to interview the African-American maids who have raised her and her friends, among them Minny (Octavia Spencer) and Aibileen (Viola Davis), who are now treated by their former charges as lowly hired help, not allowed even to use the toilet in the houses where they work.

NEWYORKER: The Help