The play takes place on Labor day Weekend in the joint back yards of two middle-aged widows. The one house belongs to Flo Owens, who lives there with her two maturing daughters, Madge and Millie, and a boarder who is a spinster. The other house belongs to Helen Potts, who lives with her elderly mother. Into this female atmosphere comes a young man named Hal, whose animal vitality seriously upsets the entire group. Hal is a most interesting character, a child of parents who ignored him, self concious of his failings. Madge, bored with being only a beauty, sacrifices her chances for a wealthy marriage for the excitement Hal promises. Her sister, Millie, finds her balance for the first time through the stranger's brief attention. And the spinster is stirred to make an issue out of the courtship that has brightened her life in a dreary, minor way. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize 1953.

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