A factory worker gets his girlfriend pregnant, forcing them to endure years of misery and dashed hopes as they marry and move in with her disapproving, nagging mother. John Schlesinger's drama, starring Alan Bates, June Ritchie and Thora Hird.

As Vic Brown vacillates between infatuation and disinterest for his co-worker Ingrid Rothwell, she finds out that she is pregnant and Vic has to reconcile how he thought his life would go with what life actually has in store for him.