Hackman portrays a New York professor who wants to make a change in his life and plans to marry his girlfriend and relocate to California. His mother understands his desire to escape, but warns him that moving so far away may be difficult for his father. The mother dies just before the wedding. Hackman's sister (who has been disowned by their father due to her marriage to a Jewish man) advises him to live his own life and not be controlled by their father.