Miss Else is a young teenager on vacation with her Aunt. One day, their time at the luxurious spa is interrupted by a message from Else's mother, telling her that her father has been imprisoned for a debt of 30,000 "gulden," which is a severe amount that he will not be able to pay off from jail. Else must depart from her aunt and her luxurious spa treatment to find the money her father needs to be freed.
She follows the advise of her mother to find Herr Von Dorsday, a rich elderly relative who knows the family and might help. She leaves the spa to find him, but on the way, she offers lengthy first-person stream-of-conscious narration, discussing the differences between the way she thought the world would be and the way it is. She thinks to herself as she journeys about justice, and the injustice of financial institutions, and the injustice of gender and ethnicity. As a young Jewish gal, she feels misunderstood and mistreated.
As she struggles to find the money, she becomes paranoid. She feels that she is being judged for her sexuality. Although she feels very desirable and although she wants to have sex, she decides that she shall not take money for sex. She swears of prostitution and says she's happy to be promiscuous, but not to get ahead in life. One day, in a panic, she leaves the house naked, except for an overcoat, and she drinks a toxic chemical and dies.
