The protagonist and his wife, Hannah, are at the anniversary party of a couple they despise. Hannah sees him looking at a woman who giggles at him spilling his wine and becomes angry, digging her nails into the protagonist's arm and harshly interrogating him about the woman. Later, the hostess pulls her away to help pick out music and the host tells the protagonist he thinks the protagonist and Hannah have a perfect marriage and he hopes someday his marriage with his wife will be the same.

The protagonist finds the woman later and tells her his wife is jealous and she should leave the party now. The woman doesn't understand the urgency of his request. Hannah finds him talking to her and drags him away from the party. Then, she kidnaps the woman and locks her in their basement, where she tortures her. The protagonist tries to block out the sounds of her torture.

Years ago, after Hannah discovered he was having an affair with a woman named Jackie, she tracked Jackie down and tortured and killed her.

The protagonist is now having an affair with a woman named Pat. He realizes he's in love with Pat, though Pat thinks he's just having a normal extra-marital affair and doesn't know the danger she's in. He hatches a plan.

The protagonist tells Hannah there's a black widow in the mailbox to tempt her away from the food she's preparing (she never eats anything he prepares). She is angry and lectures him all all she has to put up with, cleaning up all his "messes." While she's gone, he mashes a banana into the ground beef, throws the peel out the window, and sprays scented cleaning spray around in the air. She's deadly allergic to bananas, and dies when she finally eats the food.

The protagonist goes down to the basement and frees the woman, who is scarred and near death. Then, he carries her upstairs, where he finds Pat in his kitchen. Pat is freaking out about the fact that Hannah is dead and asks who Jennifer is. The protagonist says, "She's what turned my marriage bad," and laughs. Neither of them do.