Born into a middle-class, mid-Western family dominated by opera, art history and tuna-fish sandwiches, Suzy Schwartz longs to be normal. She spends half her time emulating her more original and enterprising younger sister, Fran, but the other half perfecting her own stay at home, party-pooping personality. In her opinion she eats too much and makes love too little, a life-style only slightly modified by marriage to one of her sister's ex-boyfriends. The birth of her daughter, Lily, prompts Suzy to set off, leaving husband and crosswords behind, to find the love of a good man.