Thirteen-year-old Nan has the highest IQ in her grade, though she suffers from an eating disorder. She is sent by her parents to live with her mother’s distant relatives to gain some healthy weight. Nan is obsessed with being skin and bones, as she has a secret relationship with a minister who praises her and worships her pale thinness. As she lives with Mary and Jay Travis, however, Nan is constantly offered luxurious food by Mary, a plump, generous woman and fabulous cook. Jay’s intense love for Mary and her plumpness, however, has the greatest effect on Nan, as she realizes that she would love to be Mary, with her curves and “flesh.”  Nan tells Jay about the creepy minister who adores her emaciated body, and Jay tells her to avoid the minister.  Soon after, Nan appears to be gaining weight. Mary and Jay call her change a “puzzle” and laugh together, before dozing off in a comfortable fashion. Nan enters the room and sees the couple sleeping, then goes to eat the leftover chocolate mousse on the table. She dreams that Jay will one day fall madly in love with her plumpness and follow her everywhere just as the minister used to do.