An elderly woman who is treated as a simple-minded invalid by her family, periodically escapes to sit by the river and listen to the races on her radio. There she befriends Charlie, a young woman from the city who has come with her husband to seek a new life in the country. The two women talk about their lives, and it becomes clear to them both that their experiences are parallel: both are abused by unfaithful and boorish husbands, and yet both are totally dependent on their men for any form of social fulfilment.