Summary

Resting in a hospice for the terminally ill, Annie is dying.

Resting in a hospice for the terminally ill, Annie is dying. Supported by her oldest friend, Clemmie, who listens and sympathises, she looks back over her life. Each woman has had a disappointing marriage: Clemmie to a man who turned out to be gay; Annie to a man who left her under tragic circumstances. Gradually Annie reveals her story. At 18 a GI whom she never sees again impregnates her in the back of a truck. Living alone with her mother, she brings up her daughter to believe the child's father is a dead war hero. After a few years Annie marries Eric, a charming man. However when Mary, her daughter, discovers the truth she is horrified and goes to the US - to Milwaukee - to try and locate her genuine father. She returns with a man who claims to be him, but Annie is highly suspicious. Is Mary trying to get her revenge on the mother - and subsequently Eric - whom she feels betrayed her by lying about her true parentage?