The unnamed protagonist trundles on a bus up the Blue Ridge mountains, taking him to his new post as city editor of the Staunton News-Leader. He hopes to emulate his uncle, a solitary script writer content with his work and phonograph. Working from 4 PM to 1 AM each day, he keeps his mind occupied while quietly hoping for a letter of redress from his ex-fiancé, who had plotted for months to break up their engagement, the recent memory of which is unbearably embarrassing to him. The letter that finally arrives upholds her decision. While he curses and steams, he realizes his humiliation and belittlement have extinguished the sense of self necessary for anger.

The protagonist occupies himself with longer hours and a steady stream of pleasure reading until the dramatic change from winter to spring stirs new curiosity in him. He wanders into the night and observes trains crossing, savoring his poetic nocturnal solitude, only to find himself pessimistic and distractible the following day. He resents the chattering college students and professors for their sociability and cultured ease. In his room, he lets a symphony he dislikes play on the radio and falls torturously into a bath of self-loathing and rumination over his spoiled past. But suddenly, the music changes, a Brahms variation on themes from _St. Anthony’s Chorale _seems to lift and transform his surroundings – washing away panic and despair, leaving him only with purpose, content to lie and listen to music on a Sunday afternoon.