Suyuan Woo (never speaks) - - - - - -Jing-mei (June) Woo
An-mei Hsu - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Rose Hsu Jordan
Lindo Jong - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Waverly Jong
Ying-ying St. Clair - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lena St. Clair

The film starts at a party which works as a framing device. June's mother Suyuan Woo has died; the women of the Joy Luck Club invite June to join them for Mah Jong. In the process of the party, we get a series of flashbacks about each of the women, mothers and daughters.

June recalls learning about how her mother fled the war, including having had to leave her twin babies (along with her belongings). She gets a more detailed version of this event from her father at the end of the movie. These are the two women June goes to see in China at the end of the film.

An-mei's mother was raped and rejected by her family; An-mei was raised by her grandmother, who viewed An-mei's mother with shame. When she was nine, she went to live with her mother, who had become the fourth wife of the man who raped her. She had borne a son, who was claimed by the second wife. She killed herself with opium, timing her death so An-mei could have power within the family.

Rose Jordan's marriage to Ted, an Anglo, is falling apart. She learns from her mother's story that she has to value herself.

Lindo Jong was married when she was twelve to marry a boy who is mean and spiteful. She can't get pregnant because her husband refuses to have sex with her; she tricks her mother-in-law into accepting a servant's baby as her grandson, and marrying her son to the servant.

Waverly Jong plays chess; she quits chess in anger after her mother brags about her success.

Ying-ying marries a wealthy gad-about; after her brings home a prostitute, she drowns her baby in a bathtub, and feels she has lost her spirit in the process. She thinks this is why her daughter Lena lets her husband treat her badly, and helps Lena understand by telling her her story.

Lena's married to a cheapskate who expects her to share half the expenses although he makes a great deal more money than she does.