At 17 years of age, Leslie Hartop's parents decide the time has come for her to make her way in the world. She moves in with the Hollands who live in a old mill. Mr Holland doesn't use the mill per se and is a scrap dealer by profession. Mrs Holland suffers from the dropsies and spends most of her time in bed either writing to their son, a soldier stationed in Germany, or reading letters he has written. Leslie is hard-working, but also quite innocent. When Mr Holland makes sexual advances, she submits but soon finds herself pregnant.