Events take us to Connecticut, the home of farmer Phil Hogen. The action takes place in early September 1923 and at the dawn of the next day.

Hogen’s three sons fled out of the house one by one - his father’s very heavy disposition, and his hand is no easier. Only twenty-eight-year-old daughter Josie gets along with him, she is a big, strong daughter to match her father, and she "plows" for two at work. Father cannot approach her: and he can give change. Josie’s reputation is not the best: they say that many of the local men can boast that they enjoyed her success. Her younger brother Mike, leaving her father’s house, advises her sister to get some people around, it’s time for her to calm down. Best of all, Jim Tyrone - although he is a drunkard, he comes from a good family (he has Hogen and rents a farm), and when he receives the inheritance, he will have a lot of money. Mike noticed that Josie looked at Jim more gently than at the others. He advises to lasso him when he is drunk in the insole.

Phil Hogen also had a similar thought in his head. Josie herself, however, abhorred the idea of ​​deception. But when her father reminds her that they are just tenants here, and the same Jim, having poured out, can sell his farm to the first person he sees with drunk eyes, Josie thinks. Jim has already made one proposal, the father continues, it seems, from their neighbor Harder, that bigwig from Standard Oil, - Tyrone has refused so far, but who knows ...

The conversation between father and daughter is interrupted by Jim Tyrone. Oddly enough, he is sober, but suffers from a hangover and asks Hogen for a glass of whiskey. Sipping alcohol, reports that Harder himself is going to visit them today, in whose pond, located next to the farm, the Hogen pigs got into the habit of walking. Harder suggests that neighbors regularly break the hedge dividing their lands to water their pigs nearby.

Harder did come to the Hogen farm, and Tyrone, who hid in the house, chokes with laughter, listening to the play, which is largely arranged for him by his father and daughter. Without showing the visitor the respect that he expects, they fall upon him with counter accusations: they say that he deliberately breaks the fence to lure unfortunate pigs into ice-cold water - poor animals pick up bronchitis, pneumonia and die like flies, and some simply poisoned by dirty and bacillus-infected water.

A stunned Harder does not know how to take his legs, and Jim and Hogen laugh for a long time after him. The amused Jim promises Josie not to stay in the tavern tonight, but to come to her and spend the night admiring the moon and the night sky. Like her, there is no longer a girl in the world.

A few hours later. It’s almost twelve, but Jim’s still gone. A drunken song is heard - this is father returning home. He brings down on Josie, already upset, with unpleasant news: it turns out that Jim Tyrone agreed to Harder's proposal. He, wanting to quickly get rid of unpleasant neighbors, promised to pay Tyrone for the farm as much as ten thousand dollars. Tyrone agreed, although he had previously promised to cede her to Hogen in two.

Jim's betrayal hurts Josie in the heart, and she accepts her father’s plan to take the man to bed so that Hogen and witnesses catch them early in the morning. Then it will be possible to make Tyrone get married or at least pay off.

It's already midnight. Jim finally appears on the farm. To Josie's surprise, he is not drunk at all, and the girl has to make an effort to pump him up properly. And then the drunken Jim laughs that the offended Harder is ready to pay ten thousand dollars for their farm. He pretended to agree, but tomorrow he would pull his nose to this narcissistic businessman and, of course, refuse. But it is tomorrow. And today a special night awaits them: they will sit like this on the porch, and Jim, if Josie permits, rests her head on her chest and falls asleep. After all, he knows: she is untouched - she just spreads rumors about her supposedly free behavior. By this, Josie is dear to him - purity, naturalness, selflessness.

Josie realizes that her father cheated on her. It’s good that she found out the truth in time - it’s scary to think what she could do. Jim would despise her. Jim receives an inheritance the other day — that’s what his father, the old sinner, has set his sights on. So, Jim will soon leave here, will live on Broadway and she will not see him again.

This night, Jim is more than ever outspoken with Josie. He has long felt himself to be the “stepson of fate”, he always hated his father — the hypocrite and stingy — he always broke him, and the death of his beloved mother completed the job. He is now dead. Josie’s heart is breaking with love and pity for Jim: the girl realized that what he told her was true: Tyrone is really a living dead. Neither she nor anyone else can help him. All that she can do for him is to give an innocent night of love - to sit on the porch until morning in the morning, holding his head to himself, to make him feel like a child again.

At dawn, Hogen returns - alone, without witnesses. He sees a couple sitting on the steps, and for a long, probing look peers into Josie's face, fearing that he will get a hard time for lying. Josie does not make a scandal, only sadly says that he understands his calculation. Now she will leave the farm - leave him, as the brothers had done before. She doesn’t understand anything, Khogen protests plaintively, he just wanted them to be happy, because from the outside it is clear that they love each other.

Tyrone wakes up, he is very embarrassed that he did not let the girl sleep at all. Nothing, Josie reassures him, because he wanted this night to not be like all the other nights he spent with women. Now it is time for him to leave, and in general they need to say goodbye - he is leaving and they are unlikely to ever meet again.

Left alone, Josie covers his face with his hands and cries. From the top step of the stairs, Tyrone follows Hogen, his face full of bitterness. Josie looks up at his father: after all, the old rogue, he decided to play cupid. Okay, let’s not worry, she won’t leave anywhere and never leave him. No one is to blame for anything, it’s just a damn life. And Tyrone, well, God forbid that he reconcile with himself and find peace.