Mrs Donaldson is a fifty five year old recent widow, with a married, puritanical and unbearably conventional daughter who tries to make sure her mother lives constantly in reverence of the memory of her very boring dead husband. Boringness against which Mrs Donaldson never rebelled, nor even questioned, brought up in the firm belief that to being and doing what is expected of you are the pillars of everyday happiness. Or conformity. But now her life is beginning to change. She has found work in a hospital: she plays the role of different patients and their corresponding illnesses in order to illustrate Doctor Ballantynes classes. And, from performance to performance, Mrs Donaldson begins to discover folds and depths within herself that she had previously been unaware of.