Mrs. Silly, a woman who has lost her husband to another, is now about to lose her son to an expensive boarding school, compliments of her ex's money. Confronted with these losses, Mrs. Silly realizes she must regain her identity. Desperately trying to keep up appearances, to be cheerful, busy, and dignified, she only succeeds in living up to the derisive nickname she invented for herself.
1982. A shop worker saves money all year for a holiday in France, using a magazine as guide to the mode of dress and manners of behaviour she thinks expected of a wealthy woman.
Edith is a hotel waitress, single and in her mid-forties, with a major infatuation on Maurice Silcox, the hotel's head waiter. But Edith becomes distraught when she learns that Maurice has been offered a more prestigious job at a luxury hotel. Maurice explains to Edith that he can only take the position if he is married. Unaware Edith's crush, Maurice proposes. She accepts and they set up a household for business purposes only -- complete with a photograph of a make-believe son. As Edith continues to live with this charade, her obsession with Maurice and the "son" grows, leading to a shocking and disturbing outcome!