Carol follows the relationship between two very different women in 1950s New York. A young woman in her 20s, Therese (Rooney Mara) is working in a department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol (Cate Blanchett), an alluring woman trapped in a loveless, moneyed marriage. As the story unfolds, their lives begin to unravel with Carol becoming more fearful of losing custody of her daughter in the case of separation when her husband threatens her competence as a mother because of her previous affair with her best friend Abby, and new relationship with Therese.