With his wife having left him, Jimmy Porter can now start to think seriously about a future without her. Jimmy's friend Cliff is also about to leave, which means that Helena, with whom Jimmy's been having an affair, is the only person left in his life.

Helena claims that she loves Jimmy. Jimmy, however, can only say that Helena is a "worthy opponent" and praise her for not wanting anything from him. In Jimmy's world, you're either for him or against him, and Helena's definitely for him.

That being the case, Jimmy starts to make plans for their future together. He's going to close down his sweet stall in the market and then run off with Helena to begin a new life together. Now that Alison and Cliff are no longer part of Jimmy's life, new vistas of opportunity have suddenly opened up, and he can finally see a way to break free from a narrow, unfulfilling, joyless existence.

But just then, Alison suddenly returns home, inadvertently wrecking Jimmy's plan. Now that his wife has come back, it's just a matter of time before Jimmy slips right back into the life from which he was in the process of trying to escape.