 A crowded Thanksgiving dinner brings a host of family together in a small Harlem apartment , where a shy , twenty @-@ four @-@ year @-@ old schoolteacher named Dorothy ( Diana Ross ) lives with her Aunt Em ( Theresa Merritt ) and Uncle Henry ( Stanley Greene ) . Extremely introverted , Dorothy is teased by Aunt Em for never having been south of 125th Street , as she has delayed moving out to start her own , independent life as an adult . 
