The story opens with the narrator ironing. She is prompted to think about her daughter by someone's request (presumably a teacher's) to discuss ways to help her.
The narrator goes back nineteen years, to the time when her daughter was born. The narrator herself was nineteen at the time, trying to get by during the Great Depression. Emily, as her daughter was called, was a happy baby.
When Emily is eight months old, her father leaves them, and the narrator has to seek work. Emily is left first in the care of a neighbor, then with the father's family, as the narrator struggles to make ends meet.
Emily finally returns to live with the narrator at the age of two. The narrator leaves her at a nursery school, where the conditions are awful.
The narrator thinks of the caller's reference to Emily's talent for comedy. Looking back over Emily's tough childhood, the narrator isn't sure how Emily acquired this talent.