A brother and sister, nicknamed Peg-Top and Mascot, are separated in their parents' divorce settlement. Mascot, the older of the two, vows to defy the world in order to get her brother back. When Peg-Top protests in his own way and is sent to reform school, Mascot helps him escape, drops out of school to support him, and becomes mistress of a gardener in exchange for rooms at his truck farm. As the kids sink lower and lower in their cruel bargains with the adult world, their own bond is also severed until tragedy brings them back together again, but briefly. Los Angeles Times critic Sheila Benson writes, “(Rózsa's) earlier film Sunday Daughters (1979), about troubled adolescent girls in a state-run institution, was a revelation, both in the exceptional frankness of its story and for its fine naturalistic performances. In the cast was a strong, sensitive young actress, Julianna Nyakó. Three years later, director and actress worked together again in Mascot.... Mascot is notable for its portrait of contemporary social problems in Hungary, for Rózsa's firm, compassionate direction, and for Nyakó's haunting central performance.”