A recent widow, Lena Younger wants to use her husband's insurance money to buy a home for her family, freeing them from the cramped tenement in which they live. Her son, Walter Lee is determined to invest the money in a business - an opportunity for him to be his own man. Lena refuses: in her eyes a house is a sturdy thing to build a dream on.

But when a white representative of the neighborhood "welcoming committee" presents them with an offer to buy them out of their home, the dream quickly becomes a nightmare. The Younger family attempts to find their place amidst a number of difficult situations and, for the first time, Walter begins to value what money can’t buy and achieves a new level of self-respect and pride.