Nellies is a Toronto emergency hostel for women in crisis situations. Most of the sequences were taped inside Nellies over a short period in 1980, showing the daily routine of the house. These scenes are interspersed with interviews, the interviewer's presence edited out. The tape is unmediated by titling or voice-over commentary; it is intended to capture the "flavor" of the day to day events at Nellies, as the tape focuses on the emotional responses of the hostel residents. Interpersonal relationships and self-images of the women are examined with discretion, so that the precariously achieved dignity of the subject survives.