The biography of actress Anna Maria Pierangeli, from her early life in Italy to her death at 39. Discovered by Vittorio De Sica, she soon after starred in her first film, "Domani e Troppo Tardi" (Tomorrow Is Too Late), and began a meteoric rise to fame in Italy. She arrived in Hollywood in 1950, age 18, and the first thing MGM did was change her name to Pier Angeli and predict great things for her. The book covers her seven year career with MGM, her two unhappy marriages (to Vic Damone and Armando Trovajoli), her love for her children Perry and Andrew, her brief and stormy relationship with James Dean, her dependent relationships with her mother and such stars as Kirk Douglas, Richard Attenborough and Debbie Reynolds, and the mystery surrounding her death.