A young American girl, Louise, grows up against the backdrop of her father's imprisonment: during World War II, he was an anarchist objector to war and the draft and refused to fight, so he was sent to prison numerous times. Louise receives heavy judgment from her classmates about this--especially from Maxie Pfeiffer, whose family is Jewish--but they start to behave more kindly towards her during high school. Maxie's older brother demonstrates interest in Louise when they are in high school together. His father died overseas in the war. Louise and the boy, Ted, begin dating, and he reveals that he was not sure about dating her at first because of her father's choice not to fight in the war. She insists that she is nothing like her father, but privately, she is not sure what she believes. She questions whether war is ever justified, such as in the case of stopping the Holocaust. Ted and Louise deepen their relationship, and for her, it is her first love, but because he is two years older, he graduates and goes to college nearby. He breaks up with her so that he can date college-age girls. Louise asks Maxie, Ted's sister, to make fun of all of his new girlfriends. Louise grows up more and grieves about Ted. She wants to go to college, but her mother advises against going to his school. He sometimes comes into the bakery where she works and the two exchange polite conversation. She makes up an elaborate lie about going to Hawaii, which embarrasses her, but his interest reignites and the two start dating again. Ted's family is not thrilled because Louise comes from a family of anarchists. Louise drops out of college after a year and a half to marry Ted. They move into a tenement on the Lower East Side. Louise feels very smug about how successful her life is despite her unusual upbringing.
Ted, who teaches English, works with a particularly poorly-behaved class and offers students extra credit if they rat out other student's behavior. Louise is unsettled by this because her family has always been repulsed by those who rat out others; her father refused to do so while he was imprisoned. Their relationship becomes strained for the first time ever. Ted spends much of his time reading, and when she pushes him to go to the lake with her, he makes a snippy comment about her father being unwilling to fish, as he wouldn't have wanted to kill even a minnow. Louise tells him that anarchists can be violent, but her family is not. Ted responds by saying that Louise's father let his own father die. Ted tries to coerce Louise into admitting that her father is a failure. For the first time, Louise believes that she might leave Ted. However, she ends up crying and telling him that the two of them are made for each other, as she is scared of being out in the world on her own. Louise begins to feel so resentful and spiteful that she tells the school he is a Communist, even though this is a lie. His contract isn't renewed and he loses his job as a teacher. Louise feels guilty and tries to spice up their sex life in an attempt to make him happy, though he remains in good spirits. She finally tells him that her father is a failure. Louise goes back to work at the bakery, but Ted gets a job in Japan teaching English; the pair will live on a military base. Louise's mother is scandalized by this, but Louise begins to feel superior again and insists on going. At the last minute, Louise is denied clearance to go to Japan and must remain behind. Over time, she comes to appreciate her solitude. She feels less tied to Ted as the years drag on and has an affair with another bakery employee. They break up after a while because he has a wife who lives overseas; he is from Trinidad. Louise returns to college and graduates. She continues to have emotional and physical affairs with other men. Ted decides to stay in Japan and their emotional intimacy disappears. Louise begins to feel content as she remains in control of her entire life.