[2][3] Disenchanted poet Susan Grieve, escorted by her friend Stacy Grant, meets embittered World War II naval hero Lieutenant Slick Novak at a Manhattan restaurant where a dinner party is being held in his honor.

In this setting, the two share secrets about each other, Susan telling him about her clergyman father's descent into insanity and eventual suicide, and how it estranged her from her mother, he confessing his longtime desire to become a priest and revealing the guilt he feels about surviving the war while others died in battle.

The following day, he visits Susan's apartment and suggests they try to make their relationship work, but she urges him to reconsider the priesthood and the two part ways.

Davis enlisted her friend Catherine Turney to write a screen adaptation and stayed in close touch with her throughout the process, sending her memos about sequences that concerned her.

[7] Richard Widmark tested well, but studio executives were concerned his portrayal of a sadistic killer in the previous year's Kiss of Death would make it difficult for audiences to accept him in a sympathetic role.

New York theatrical director Bretaigne Windust had been assigned the film because of his intimate knowledge of the Manhattan social scene,[4] but Bette Davis felt that he ultimately was responsible for her leading man's lackluster performance.

"Because of the overanalytical approach of Bretaigne Windust," she later observed, "Jim Davis never again during filming showed any signs of the character he portrayed in the test that made me want him for the part.

"[9]Time observed:"The best thing that can be said about Winter Meeting is that its attempt to articulate Ethel Vance's obscure theme is a thoroughly honest failure and that Bette Davis's talents are great enough to be sometimes apparent even in the midst of such unrewarding mediocrity.