Characters in the film attend a movie titled Life's Mirror (pointedly directed by one "Lois Weberâ?), where they see parallel, cautionary versions of their own lives. A shop girl "stepping outâ? with her boyfriend watches her screen surrogate conceive a child and retire to a home for unwed mothers. An estranged married couple watches as the wife's onscreen counterpart, played by Weber herself, leaves an uncaring husband to return to her post as a settlement worker. A working family struggling to make ends meet learn the perils of living beyond their means. In each case the recognition of oneself onscreen proves revelatoryâ??film viewing provides opportunities for identification and affect unavailable elsewhere.