Geraldine Ryan, known colloquially as “Chicky,” grows up in the small Irish village of Stoneybridge. As a child, Chicky sometimes plays in the garden of Stone House, a manor owned by three sisters called the Sheedys. When Chicky grows up, she finds an administrative role in a knitting factory, where she meets an American tourist named Walter. They begin an affair, and Walter invites Chicky to come with him to America. Chicky’s family strongly disapproves, but Chicky ignores their protests and moves with Walter into a bohemian shared house. Chicky gets a job in a diner and, in writing to her parents, begins building a false life that makes her sound happier than she really is. Eventually, she tells them she and Walter have been married, another lie. Walter leaves her soon after, and Chicky, despairing, finds a job at a boarding house. She begins a new life there with her employer, Mrs. Cassidy, and learns how to cook. When she’s ready, Chicky goes back to Stoneybridge to visit her family while maintaining her deception about her life with Walter. This act goes unhindered until her niece, Orla, expresses interest in coming to visit Chicky and Walter in America.