Rube and Sylvie are strident young women who want to have fun. Eileen, Rube's sister is quieter and wants to train as a nurse. All three now work in a factory.
On a Saturday night in a Clapham pub, the three girls get together with three lads, Dave, Terry and Ron. After some cheekiness and flirting, the boys ask the girls to go swimming with them. They frolic in a local pool until ordered to leave. Dave and Eileen go to a derelict building and Dave tells Eileen to seduce him. He's married but doesn't like his wife because she went with someone else before him. Eileen assures him that she's never been with anyone else.
The next day in the factory, old and young women chat to each other of everyday things and their stories of love and loss. During their break the women entertain each other with anecdotes and they practice dancing the twist until stopped by a dour manager.
That evening, Terry decides he doesn't want to go to the cinema when he realises Rube's mother is out. Rube appears less than keen to succumb to his advances at first, but gives in.
A money lender, or tallyman, drives round the street and boasts about his exploits with his women customers, encouraging them to get ever further into debt. The women in the factory tell more stories of their lives; Rube, Sylvie and Eileen walk up the street with a pram, singing; young unmarried mothers are seen in the street while telling how they became pregnant, mainly through ignorance.
A few months later, Rube goes to a back street abortionist, and that evening, she suffers a miscarriage, as a result of the botched abortion. No-one wants to call a doctor because he may try to save the baby.
Some time later, in the pub again, there are more stories and Sylvie sings. At the end of the evening she has a row with Ron, now her husband. Rube also falls out with Terry, who rides off on his motorbike without her. He crashes and dies.
Some weeks later, in another pub, Rube and Eileen meet some more lads. Dave has now been imprisoned, but Eileen is remaining loyal to him.
Once again, the three girls jauntily walk along the main street in Clapham.
