Since she was a child, Natalie Miller has always thought she was an ugly ducking. Despite her mother's encouragement that she will grow up to be pretty, Natalie has never believed it will happen. She runs away to Greenwich Village to find herself and discovers a vibrant bohemian counterculture.

Twelve-year-old Nick lives with his Uncle Murray, a Mr.Micawber-like Dickensian character who keeps hoping something won't turn up. What turns up is a social worker, who falls in love with Murray and a bit in love with Nick. As the child welfare people try to force Murray to become a conventional man (as the price they demand for allowing him to keep Nick), the nephew, who until now has gloried in his Uncle's iconoclastic approach to life, tries to play mediator. But when he succeeds, he is alarmed by the uncle's willingness to cave in to society in order to save the relationship.