A woman reflects on a day — back when she was a young poet in 1972 New York City — she spent retrieving furniture to borrow from a young man about to visit his home in Chile. The man was eventually taken by the secret police, leaving the woman with his furniture for years to come.

In this strange tale, the frustrated wife of an invalid finds herself both attracted to and tormented by a live-in handyman with a criminal past, a former flame, and a wealthy, mysterious visitor.