Just after WWII, widowed Lorraine Hughes and her son Kevin move from Chicago to Houston for his specialized medical treatment. Away from the watchful eye of Lorraine's mother and effectively on their own for the first time, both must learn to cope in this new environment of postwar optimism and consumerism, and with their fellow tenants and landlord in a small run-down apartment building. Lorraine achieves self sufficiency through employment at a local department store, including working as a spritzer for the intimidating Perfume Ladies, while Kevin experiences the social intricacies of public school for the first time.