Eighteen year old Ida returns home after being raised by nuns, but her father isn't too pleased. Determined to see her married, he publishes an ad and offers suitors a generous dowry.

Lauretta's mother faints, falls on the floor while vacuuming and gets hospitalized. The 30-year-old cashier, alone in the apartment, finds an old letter among her mother's belongings - a letter that could have changed her life.