A young man named Joe receives a visit from his brother's friend, Stuart Harkness, at his collegiate frat house. Joe reports that his brother Jim is currently in South America. Jim and Stuart played football together. Stuart spends time with the frat brothers and he and Joe begin to meet regularly. Joe realizes that Stuart is not necessarily the brightest, and though he is likable, he is still lonely and hosts gambling sessions for undergraduate men as a means of connecting with them. Stuart tells Joe that he is twenty-seven, which surprises Joe, as Stuart still has his college football memorabilia. Joe tells Stuart that he intends to spend the summer working in the wheat fields so he can get strong; Stuart approves and tells him that he will give him a letter for his girlfriend, Marjorie, once he begins work. Stuart shows Joe some love poetry that he stores in his house. Joe meets Marjorie and her family, who are very tall and sturdy because they are of Swedish descent. They invite him over for dinner. Marjorie performs to entertain him and sings him a sad folk song. Marjorie tells him that she is older than she looks and that she was once a sorority girl. He lets her know that Stuart let him look at the book of love poetry in his house. Marjorie takes Joe out to meet her friends' sisters in the hopes of setting him up with a nice girl. He is attracted to Marjorie, but that summer is the last time he ever sees her. Joe writes Stuart a letter at the end of the summer. The two meet up for dinner much later and Stuart tells him that he and Marjorie have split up. He had another girlfriend on the side who turned out to be married and now he has been named in the divorce filings. Much later, Joe and Stuart are fighting in World War I. Stuart in particular is a marine. They reconnect and both share that they have not written to Marjorie. When Joe returns home after the war, his father asks if he has heard anything about Stuart. He tells Joe that Stuart is dead but he sent him some letters, which Joe reads.
One letter tells Joe to pick out the best letter and send it to Marjorie, as Stuart wants her to get married. Stuart hoped that Marjorie would not want to be with him, as he thought he was not worthy even to tie her shoes--but he still loved her. The book of love poetry comes with the letters. Joe goes to Marjorie's home and learns that her father is dead and she is gone; no one has any information on where she is or where she went, though Joe suspects that she is teaching school somewhere.