When we first meet Mildred, she is a 28-year-old homemaker who is really gifted at making pastry. She has brown-blonde hair, a lovely figure, and a perpetually quizzical squint. When her husband Bert leaves her for Maggie, Mildred is ready for the distraction of another man to hold her and combat her loneliness.

The novel takes place over the nine years, and at the end of the narrative Mildred has changed in certain ways. Mildred acquires the ability to interact on par with the upper crust. Always able to express compassion for others, Mildred finds new respect for Bert and understands he has also had to make sacrifices. Ambivalent toward the men in her life, Mildred gains the ability to see who is trustworthy and who is using her. While, at the beginning of the novel, Mildred remains aloof from women who offer her advice and support, she eventually accepts friendship.

Certain of Mildred’s characteristics are constant throughout the book. She is a quick learner, hard worker, and imaginative thinker. However, Mildred’s primary trait is her passionate and possibly unhealthy attachment to her daughter Veda—so strong is this connection that when Mildred’s other daughter Ray dies, Mildred’s grief is tempered by her relief that Ray, not Veda, passed away.