Alison MacKenzie looks back on life in the New England town where she grew up around the time of Pearl Harbour. Beneath the town's placid God-fearing exterior lay any number of dark secrets involving sexual attraction and repression, illegitimacy, rape, gossip, intolerance, and class snobbery. No wonder Allison had moved to a quiet place like New York. Peyton Place had the dubious distinction of 9 Oscar nominations, but not one winner.