In which Una Golden, newly arrived from her insipid small town, surveys the bustling, unromantic city of New York with a mixture of awe and resolute ambition, absorbing its sights and sounds while clinging to the hope of a better future for herself and her mother. She throws herself into the humbler world of commercial schooling with diligent eagerness, finding in her studies a newfound sense of purpose and the stirring promise of a life transformed.