USED PEOPLE

Queens, 1969. Soon after the death of her husband, the bereaved Pearl Berman is visited by a handsome stranger - Joe Meledandri. Many years back, Pearl's husband had deserted her. Joe had met him at a bar, and convinced him to patch things up with Pearl. Ever since then, Joe has loved Pearl from a distance; now, he has arrived to try to sweep her off her feet. But besides the obstacle of her recent bereavement, and the ethnic differences (she's Jewish and he's Italian), Pearl also has family issues to deal with, including two very unhappy daughters. Bibby is lonely and overweight, and Norma, though quite beautiful, has such low self esteem that she pretends to be various famous women.