Lora lives in Cleveland, Ohio. She is married to Mitch, with whom she has a five-month-old baby named Alex, and she works as an English professor at an all-women college. One day, a former lover of hers, whom she refers to as the Incredible Appearing Man, knocks on her door, dressed as a plumber. She had not seen him in over seven years. She had first met him when she was in college. Instead of finding a job after graduation, she had moved to California with him. They were poor and lived a hippie lifestyle, which she eventually grew to resent. After she found him cheating on her, she broke up with him and moved to Oakland, where she got married to Mitch. On the day of her wedding, the Man left a cake for her. When she moved to the Midwest to teach, he had also appeared, sending her a letter criticizing her marriage and insisting that they were made for each other. They met at an Italian restaurant, and he had insisted that he’d wait for her as long as she needed. In a moment of weakness, she sought him out and they had sex, the first time of many. Eventually, she had confessed to Mitch her infidelities. He asked her if she’d do it again; she replied honestly: “I don’t know.” Either way, they had patched up their marriage. Up until he arrived on her stoop again, she’d been at peace. But this most recent appearance ended the same way as all the others—they had sex. Following that episode, Lora sits with her husband and son, wondering if Mitch knows the truth and asking herself if it’s only a matter of time before she caves to this desire again.