Nora Helmer is a house wife of 8 years with 2 boys and a girl. It is very close to Christmas! Nora plays with her children, then sends them with her nanny, Anne-Marie. Her husband, Torvald Helmer, has recently been promoted to manager of the bank in which he works. Their relationship a little weird in that Torvald treats Nora like a child: he calls her his squirrel, his lark, and a prodigal because she can’t seem to save money. Nora plays along, loving his attentions. She goes about preparing for Christmas. Dr. Rank goes into Torvald’s office to visit him like he does every day. Mrs. Kristine Linde comes to visit Nora after a long absence and we learn that she is a widow with grown children who has worked very hard. Now she’s looking for a position at Torvald’s bank. The two women catch up, and Nora (while eating contraband macaroons) reveals that she has tookout a sizable loan without Torvald’s permission back when they were first married. This was so they could vacation in Capri on doctor’s orders, as Torvald was very ill and needed a warmer climate to recuperate. Nora told Torvald the money came from her father’s estate after he died, but in truth her father died penniless. Nora took out the loan from a man named Nils Krogstad who works in the bank with Torvald. Nora forged her father’s signature in order to get the loan and has been paying it as much as she can behind Torvald’s back for the last eight years.
Torvald emerges from his study and promises Kristine a position as a clerk and Kristine and Dr. Rank take their leave. Torvald exits and Krogstad enters, threatening to expose Nora’s forgery if she can’t convince Torvald to save Krogstad’s job. Krogstad is a man in ill standing in the community and Torvald, in an act of self-preservation, wants to phase him out of the bank, as Krogstad is “too familiar” with him. Nora tries to plead Krogstad’s case to her husband using all sorts of manipulation but to no avail. Kristine is to take Krogstad’s job.
The next day, Kristine comes to visit and helps Nora repair a costume Torvald bought for her in Capri. That night, she is to wear it and dance the tarantella at a masquerade with their friends. Krogstad, angry that he has lost his job, writes a letter to Torvald explaining about Nora’s crime and drops it into the Helmers’ mailbox after terrorizing Nora. Kristine comes back in with the revelation that Dr. Rank is in love with Nora. Nora admits to Kristine her forgery and that Krogstad was the one who furnished the loan. Kristine says she used to be in a relationship with Krogstad and would try her hardest to convince him to take it back. She leaves to go to Krogstad’s house. Nora, meanwhile, tries to distract Torvald by dancing the tarantella and gets him to agree not to read his mail until after the party. Krogstad was out for the day so Kristine left a note on his door and took her leave for the evening. Dr. Rank admits his love for Nora, and Nora admits her knowledge and says she’d rather be married to him than Torvald. Krogstad finally goes to Kristine, they make up for lost time, and Krogstad agrees to save Nora. Kristine says to let it be revealed, because the truth needs to be told.
That night, Nora and Torvald come home the party, Torvald drunkenly singing Nora’s praises and propositioning her sexually. Nora is too tense to agree, so Torvald reads his mail and panics when he reads of Nora’s crime. He freaks out and calls Nora all sorts of shameful names until he reads another letter from Krogstad promising his discretion and freeing Nora of the loan. He reverts to type, calling her is lark and squirrel once again. Nora starts packing to leave Torvald’s home, saying she knew she had to leave him because he wouldn’t stick up for her, instead he worried only about his own reputation. She justifies leaving her children because she feels ill-equipped to mother them, as she knows too little of what it means to be a wife and mother. She says that her father treated her as a doll and when she married Torvald, he did the same. She goes out into the world to find herself and releases Torvald of any obligation to her. The play ends with the door slamming shut.
