In the 1940s, Norma Jeane becomes a pin-up model under the stage name "Marilyn Monroe", appearing on magazine covers and calendars. While trying to break into the acting world, she is raped by film studio president Mr. Z. In 1951, she auditions for the role of Nell in Don't Bother to Knock; the audition goes awry when she breaks down and leaves in tears, but she impresses the casting director enough to give her the part. As her acting career steadily rises, Norma Jeane meets Charles "Cass" Chaplin Jr. and Edward G. "Eddy" Robinson Jr., with whom she begins a polyamorous relationship. She lands her breakout role in 1953 with Niagara, but after she is spotted in public with Cass and Eddy, her agent calls on her to limit her appearances with them in public, which upsets her as she feels that her Marilyn persona is just a role and not her true self.