Movie version of the BBC TV play that first addresses some of the major social issues of the day. A girl from a rich family in Chelsea is bored and decides to go "slumming" in depressed Battersea. She gets a flat and starts working in a factory and makes some friends there. One of her friends is pregnant but abortion is illegal ...
Bored by the comfortable life in Chelsea, Polly is chauffered in her Rolls-Royce to the drab working-class district of Battersea in London's Clapham Junction section. She takes a job in a candy factory where she makes friends with two sisters, Rube and Sylvie. After moving into a dingy flat, Polly goes shopping for furniture at a junk shop and meets Peter, a young employee there. He blurts out an invitation for a date, and Polly accepts. Although Polly is entranced by her new environment, Peter sees only the poverty and ugliness. He takes her to his dilapidated childhood home, and they make love in Peter's old bedroom. Some time later, Polly learns that Rube is pregnant by her boyfriend Terry and accompanies her to a disreputable abortionist. Rube eventually announces her engagement to Terry, but on the night of their rowdy celebration, Terry is killed in a motorcycle accident. Upset by her friends' problems, Polly accepts Peter's invitation to spend a weekend at a fashionable seaside resort hotel. Peter declares his love for her and surprises her by proposing marriage, but after discussing the subject and bitterly quarreling, they realize the extent of the differences between them. While driving back to Battersea, he is arrested for stealing the car that he supposedly rented for the weekend. He is ultimately sentenced to 6 months in jail, and Polly watches as a police van takes him away.
