Barbara is a young girl who makes the painful discovery that she is just like everyone else. Her one dominant desire is to “be somebody”, but she really doesn’t know how this can be done. She tries to be “a leader”, but becomes dissatisfied with that and then tries to separate herself from the crowd – but soon "the crowd" attempts to be more like her. Sage advice from her uncle – that she is already “somebody” – satisfies Barbara to be herself.