1964. Life post successful "Baby Jane" is not as either Bob, Joan or Bette would have liked or imagined. Agreeing to direct
4 for Texas (1963) to irk Jack and prove him wrong, Bob is now banned from the studio for the movie being a disaster. Joan is now reluctantly on a gimmicky promotional tour for her latest movie,
Strait-Jacket (1964), a shlockfest which she agreed to do only because she got no other offers and needs to pay bills. Despite the movie doing decent box office, she realizes the people coming to see the movie are there to see ax murders on screen and not her specifically. And Bette has been relegated to doing television again. Jack is irked, but it's because other studios are cashing in on what he likes to think he created with Baby Jane and which he also likes to think he coined "hagsploitation" films: seeing great actresses in the twilight of their careers in roles where they are placed in mortal danger. He does end up meeting with Bob to try and convince him to reteam with Joan and Bette to do, unlike Strait-Jacket, one of these high class hagsploitation films as a follow-up to Baby Jane. Bob agrees to do it, he having written a script with the working title "What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte". Even if he manages to sweet talk Joan and Bette to do it, the two actresses seeing each other again may change their mind, especially after the most recent issue of the Oscars. What Joan decides to do is based on some rumor mongering by Hedda and a subsequent meeting Joan has with someone from her past. And while Bob tries to regain his self-esteem and professional power in dealing with Jack, he also faces his own personal crisis in agreeing to proceed with this movie.
—Huggo