Much of the plot revolves around the purchase of the brownstone where the family lives. They are struggling to get the money for the purchase. Selina's father has some land that could be sold, and her mother plans to sell it without his knowledge.

Disapproving, Selina finds no consolation in talking with her father or friends. Selina goes looking for Silla at the factory where she works, wanting to confront her.

Before that, Selina had no conception of what her mother's job entailed; the factory was an abstraction. She had no clue about the big dangerous machines. Now she sees what her mother does, and gains a sense of her power and strength. She sees her mother's "formidable force" as a match for that of the machine.

Of course this is no place for a child or a conversation, so her mother scolds her furiously, in part because traveling alone at night was dangerous.