THE STORY: Lizzie finds contemporary life abhorrent. Out of innocence she marries a man who turns out to be a gangster. When she discovers this she runs away and finds sanctuary in a pawnshop run by an old man whom she knew and trusted as a child. But the gunman tracks Lizzie down, but the pawnbroker, sick and lonely, determines to shelter her with his life if need be. Lizzie lives in a world of memories fostered by her innocence and romantic other-worldliness. But the pawnbroker and a young writer friend convince her that life now is better than a dead past. With the help of the writer, whom she has fallen in love with, she faces the world of reality. The play moves toward a final gripping conflict as a showdown between the forces of good and evil becomes imminent, and the pawnbroker, knowing that goodness and faith in humanity are not always sufficient, kills the gangster.
