The play tells the story of a young couple, Cathy (played by Carol White) and Reg (Ray Brooks (actor)), and their descent into poverty and homelessness. At the start of the film, Cathy leaves her parents' overcrowded rural home and hitchhiking to the city, where she finds work and meets Reg, a well-paid truck driver. They fall in love, marry, and rent a modern flat in a building that does not allow children. Cathy soon becomes pregnant and must stop working, and Reg is injured on the job and becomes unemployed. The loss of income and birth of the baby force them to leave their flat, and they are unable to find another affordable place to live that permits children.