In Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, a man (the narrator) travels in a trio that shoots and steals its way around the city. Ernie is the arrogant leader of the trio, and Marsha is a calm and beautiful woman that the narrator is in love with. One day they steal a boat, and while Ernie is hooting at the front of the boat, Marsha swings the boat around sharply so that he falls off.

Marsha says she wants to hold a wake for her friend. Her friend, Charlene, OD’ed in a motel room, and Marsha takes the narrator to the same hotel room. There, they have sex. During it, they feel affection for their “lost comrade Ernie.” Afterwards, Marsha wants to tell the narrator the story of her friend Charlene.

Charlene was a drifter. She ended up hooking up with a “cooker” who got so sick of her beautiful face that he bashed it in with a meat pounder. The next time Marsha saw Charlene, her face was completely deformed. Marsha and Charlene got high and drunk together, and end up having sex. 

This tale somehow turns the narrator on, and he and Marsha have sex again. Afterwards, Marsha tells him that she made it all up.

The story ends with a more detailed description of Marsha and the narrator throwing Ernie off the boat, and then driving off together listening to Neil Young.