Frank is a tutor of English in his fifties whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in his books. Enter Rita. She is a forthright 26-year-old hairdresser who is hungry for education. Rita quickly wins over the very reticent teacher by her native shrewdness and her refusal to accept second-hand academic opinions. In the course of the play she gives Frank a new lease on his life by making him believe in himself once again.
