Carrie, a business manager who always wanted to be a dancer, has two commitments today. She made a promise to her late father to move Cousin Ella, a former Paris cafe dancer, from her condemned Harlem apartment to a safe place. She's also committed to catch a flight to Seattle with her husband for his new job. But Cousin Ella resists leaving the apartment where she's had salons with Langston Hughes. She also has a mysterious gift that she wants Carrie to earn. If she does, a revelation about Carrie's father and his cousin Langston Hughes will change her life.