While ironing some clothes, a mother is troubled by the request of an individual who wants to better understand her nineteen-year-old daughter Emily. The unnamed person, most likely a therapist or teacher, believes that Emily needs help and asks the mother to come in and talk about her daughter. Feeling frustrated and somewhat incompetent, the mother is reminded of the troubled early days of raising Emily, her first child, at the age of 19 during the Depression. Their early life was filled with poverty as she struggled to survive in a world before government relief or the WPA. Realizing that she could not raise her baby while working at the same time, the young mother temporarily gives Emily to relatives and misses her baby’s years of infancy. Even after taking Emily back in her custody, she must send her to inadequate nurseries with bad teachers. When the mother marries a new man and has other children, her time for her first child is cut even shorter. Emily grows into a reserved, somber child who does not smile often. She begins to have regular nightmares and eats very little, so her mother sends her off to a convalescent home she knows nothing about. When Emily does return, her mother must watch as her daughter suffers at school and is ostracized for having a foreign appearance. The ongoing neglect and difficulty of Emily’s upbringing is a clear contrast to the life of her second daughter, who is raised with care and well-received by peers. An unexpected turning point occurs when Emily enters a school show wins with her comedic act. Despite her emotionally stunted childhood, Emily finds major success as a comedian. Returning to the present moment, the mother recognizes Emily’s failed childhood but knows her daughter will continue to find a way to live and survive, nevertheless.