In 1944, divorcee Nita Longley has been brought into the small town of Gregory, Texas by the telephone company to work as its switchboard operator, a job which requires her to be at the switchboard day and night. Her boss Mr. Rigby tells her that the job would only be a stepping-stone to a more-lucrative job with regular working hours, but then he tells her that the war has frozen her position. Now Nita feels trapped, living in the telephone-switchboard office building with her two songs, adolescent Harry and infant Henry. Her divorcee status makes many of the townsfolk, especially the men, view her with contempt or She was originally told by her boss Mr. Rigby that this job would only be a stepping-stone to a more lucrative job with regular working hours, which Mr. Rigby seems to be reneging on since he has now told her that her position is frozen due to the war. As such, Nita feels trapped by this situation. Nita lives in the telephone switchboard office building with her two sons, adolescent Harry and infant Henry. Because of her marital status, many of the townsfolk, especially the men, scorn her as a loose woman. One evening, Teddy Roebuck, a sailor on a four-day furlough who is hitchhiking back to his home in Ardmore, Oklahoma, stops by to make a telephone call. When he learns that the reason for his trip home no longer exists, Teddy decides to stay in Gregory instead and befriends Nita and her boys; eventually Nita and Teddy fall in love. The stranger's arrival annoys locals Calvin and Arnold, who have been pursuing Nita, who has rebuffed their advances. The town's unidentified disfigured man, whom Nita fears, may ultimately provide her with the ability to move on with her life.