In which the weary Appleby parents endure the stifling, gilded hospitality of their daughter Lulu in a house teeming with modern trappings and strained social pleasantries, their spirits chafing against enforced idleness and quiet desperation. Finding renewed courage, they hatch a secret plan to escape the confines of genteel captivity, embarking on a late-night flight towards the sprawling, untamed city of New York, where freedom and uncertainty await.