A middle-aged woman named Clarissa stands on the porch of an American chicken farm, where she and her husband are being trained in their new life. Having just escaped post-World War II Germany and its concentration camps, they are now struggling to adjust to life in America with no money and no job prospects. This is especially devastating to Clarissa, who was once a famous actress in Europe and now is scammed out of Hollywood contracts. A young man at the farm named Lindner approaches her and raves about her past performances, but her husband Von Porten interrupts and asks if she wants to go to bed. She says she’ll stay outside for a few more minutes, and she and Lindner talk about her husband’s time in a concentration camp before she heads to bed. Meanwhile, Von Porten has been lying awake thinking of buying his own chicken farm, even though they have no money. He’s never been so exhausted as he is now after a day’s work on the farm, and he hates the too-small bed and poor living. When Clarissa comes in, she insists on getting her mirror from the suitcase so she can clean her face, and Von Porten reluctantly gets up to help her. The mirror is a beautiful work of silver, with all her famous friends’ names scratched into it. She asks him to hold it, even though he says he’s so tired that all he wants to do is sleep, and they start to fight about their situation. When Clarissa laughs at him, he gets so angry that he smashes the mirror, which immediately ends the fight. When she bends to pick up the pieces, her age begins to show.