Mrs. Sprout is a middle-aged woman with an adult daughter, Eileen. Eileen has recently gotten divorced after a short marriage and is living with her mother. Mrs. Sprout is soon to be married to Edwin, with whom she has had an affair for the past two years. Mrs. Sprout has been living as a widow, after her husband left her and disappeared completely, while until recently, Edwin had been married. On the day of the wedding, Mrs. Sprout realizes she must have her ex-husband officially declared dead. This is quite emotional for her, which threatens Edwin. Eileen tries to comfort her mother. At the same time, Mary Ella, a teenage wedding singer, is preparing for the wedding. She and her parents speculate on the couple, and her father judges the lavishness they are putting into a second wedding. Mary Ella then goes to visit her friend Rhoda, who she will be singing with at the wedding. The girls speculate on the reasons that the couple is getting married, debating whether it is about sex, love, or simple companionship. As they sit outside on a swing, Rhoda’s neighbor Eugene begins talking to them and asks to sing with them. Eugene is two years older than the girls, but seems to be interested in Mary Ella. Rhoda and Mary Ella ride to Mrs. Sprout’s house with Mary Ella’s mom, Mrs. Tennyson, and Rhoda’s dad, Reverend Highrider. The four have a conversation about where the couple might honeymoon, and the necessity for that to be kept a secret. At the wedding, the girls, cynical from all the weddings they have attended, decide they are done with singing at weddings following this one. However, Mrs. Sprout gifts them each $10, which makes them reconsider. After the wedding goes off without a hitch, the girls overhear Edwin crying loudly, and Eileen comforting him. He is afraid he has made the wrong decision, and cannot be a good husband. After dinner, Mary Ella goes to sit by herself on a swing in the backyard. Eugene comes over and asks her on a date to the lake, which she believes her mother will not let her go on. He then starts to sing to her, and it makes her cry. He leaves, and her father comes over and pushes her on the swing. Despite Mary Ella’s maturation, she is still a young girl.