A man lies in bed in his room, which he has rented. This room is a part of a larger house unit where other families and people rent out as well. He thinks about how cold it is in his room because it is unheated. It is February and the people outside his window are wearing large coats due to the chilly weather. Initially, the man did not like how cold it was in his room and couldn't sleep. However, he eventually got accustomed to it. Each day, he would go to his bed and lay under the covers and listen to the residents who live around him. One family that catches his interest consists of a young woman and her 8-year-old daughter. Their room has a small stove and is warm, unlike his room. He listens to their conversations and soon memorizes their daily routine by listening to their footsteps. The woman's daughter goes to school each day, but the woman doesn't work. Rather, she sits on a chair by the window and waits for her daughter to come home. When men walk by the door, the woman jumps up from her chair and stands by the door listening. The man listens to all of this and begins to feel sympathy towards this family. He wishes to be the father and care for the two of them. However, one day, he listens for half an hour and hears the young girl go to sleep and the mother sit nervously—which he realizes from her lack of rocking in the chair. At 11:00pm, the man hears someone knocking at the family's door. The individual who knocks is a man named Henry and he calls for the mother, Eloise. Initially, Eloise does not open the door, but Henry forcibly opens it. They argue about the custody of the child and Eloise threatens to kill Henry if he takes the daughter. Henry shoots her and takes the child, causing the man eavesdropping to feel guilty that he didn't do anything to intervene.