The blind woman Lind lives alone on the coast of Denmark. All of her children have emigrated overseas, and every now and then she receives a letter with a few dollar bills in it so that the mother can have things a little easier at home. The most beautiful stories are told in the letters: the son-in-law is a famous ophthalmologist, the unmarried daughter is a talented and sought-after piano teacher, one of the sons is employed by Thomas Alva Edison's factory and is pursuing a career there as an engineer. The other son writes that he owns a huge farm in Canada. Mother leans back happy and satisfied and sees in the spirit of her little village street the glitter and flashing of Broadway in New York as the epitome of prosperity and success.