John Steinbeck's The chrysanthemums

"Set in the 1930's, this is the story of Elisa who raises chrysanthemums and yearns for a more meaningful outlet for her strength and latent abilities. Her encounter with an itinerant tinker, at first, brings confidence in herself, but soon that confidence is replaced by overwhelming defeat."
"A film adaptation of a short story by John Steinbeck. An account of a woman's inner struggle to be valued in a male-dominated society. Set in California's Salinas Valley in the 1930s, it uses a farm wife's brief encounter with an itinerant tinker to examine the forces that prevent her from becoming what she is capable of being."@en
"The raising of her chrysanthemums is the central outlet for Elisa, who yearns for a more adventurous and meaningful expenditure of her strength and latent abilities. Her encounter with an itinerant tinker brings confidence in herself at first, then overwhelming defeat through deceit and the societal limitations of the early 1930's. Suggested audience: senior secondary, tertiary, general."@en