This is one of those love stories that helps remind us there really is someone out there for everyone. By matter of sheer coincidence, Tillie and Rose share a table in a busy cafeteria and start talking about their children. Arnold, Tillie’s son, is a medical student at New York University. Tillie has a tumor on one of her kidneys, but she can’t afford to have an operation. She already works too hard to pay for Arnold’s school, and she would rather die than let him drop out.
Edna, Rose’s daughter, is working as a medical technician. When her father died, he left a small fortune in stocks for her to use when she married. Unlike Tillie, Rose lives very comfortably and doesn’t worry about money. What she does worry about is that her 24-year old daughter will never get married. Each for selfish reasons, the women decide to set their children up over dinner.
When Arnold and Edna meet, they couldn’t seem more different and ill-matched if they tried. Edna is fat, addicted to food, and likes to sprawl comfortably over the furniture. Arnold is thin, hardly eats at all, and only sits in very rigid chairs. They spend most of the dinner completely awkward and at a loss for conversation.
Even though dinner is a disaster for the two young people, Rose insists they sit on the porch together. After making stifling small talk for a bit, Arnold and Edna start finding things they have in common. They discover they both love to walk barefoot, and they both have domineering mothers. Arnold confesses his secret dream to become a florist to Edna, and she tells him about how she always wanted to become an actress.
Although neither Edna nor Arnold is charming alone, they have a strange radiance when they connect. The play ends with them setting off to take a walk and the promise of better things to come.