Lizzie Cronin is an unassertive and repressed woman, domineered by her controlling mother Polly. While taking her lunch break from work, Lizzie calls her husband Charles, from whom she is separated, hoping to sort out their problems. He reasserts his desire for a divorce and says that he is in love with another woman named Annabella. While Lizzie is at the public phone, first her purse is stolen, then her car. Forced to walk back to work, she arrives late and loses her job. Polly then appears, again takes control, and brings Lizzie back to the home where she grew up.