[1][2] The novel and trilogy trace the growth of the United States through the declining fortunes of three generations of the aristocratic Amberson family in an upper-scale Indianapolis neighborhood between the end of the Civil War and the early 20th century, a period of rapid industrialization and socioeconomic change in America.

Growing up arrogant, sure of his own worth and position, and totally oblivious to the lives of others, George falls in love with Lucy Morgan, a young but sensible debutante.

This novel no doubt was a permanent page in the social history of the United States, so admirably conceived and written was the tale of the Ambersons, their house, their fate and the growth of the community in which they were submerged in the end.

The cast included Welles, Walter Huston, Ray Collins, Everett Sloane, Bea Benaderet, Nan Sunderland, and other members of the Mercury Theatre company.

[4][5] The Magnificent Ambersons was adapted by Jay Pilcher for a Vitagraph Pictures feature film titled Pampered Youth (1925),[6] directed by David Smith and starring Cullen Landis, Ben Alexander, Allan Forrest, Alice Calhoun, Emmett King, Wallace MacDonald, Charlotte Merriam, Katheryn Adams, Aggie Herring and William Irving.

[12][13] In 2002, the A&E Network aired its original film The Magnificent Ambersons, directed by Alfonso Arau and starring Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Greenwood, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gretchen Mol, Jennifer Tilly, Dina Merrill and James Cromwell.