a Stolen Life

Bette Davis plays twins Kate and Pat. Kate is the more down to earth twin while Pat is more sophisticated but also devious. In her constant competition she sets out to steal the affections of Kate's love interest Bill (Glenn Ford) whom she marries. Kate is broken hearted but attempts to move on with her life and pursue her painting. When Bill tells Kate that he and Pat will be going to Chile for his job she decides to go to the family home on Nantucket for a vacation. When she arrives she is surprised to find Pat has not accompanied Bill. Pat an Kate go out sailing and Pat insists on staying out as the weather turns and they are caught in a storm which overturns the boat. Pat is drowned and while Kate is recovering everyone assumes she is Pat and someone at her bedside tells her Bill always loved her and never her sister. She sees her chance to be with Bill and goes with the deception. She soon finds out that all was not well with Pat and Bill and Pat has left a mess of her life which Kate now inherits. She tries to work things out but soon finds she can't undo what Pat has done without affecting even more lives. In the end she gives up and goes home to figure out how to tell Bill what she has done hoping she won't hurt him too much and he won't hate her for it.

Kate Bosworth and her twin sister Patricia fall in love with Nantucket lighthouse inspector Bill Emerson. Patricia and Bill are married. To forget, Kate returns to painting. Bill goes to Chile; Kate and Patricia go sailing; Patricia is washed overboard and drowned. Kate's boat capsizes and, when she recovers consciousness ashore, she (believed to be Patricia) is told that Bill is returning from Chile.