Mrs. Parsons is on vacation. In a small resort town in Mexico, she is doing her best to relax while treating the native residents as well as she can: she tips generously, speaks to children in Spanish, and does not stare at them. Suddenly, however, a pair of oddly masculine feet and the strange, handsome shoes that ordinarily house them disrupt her composure. Their owner, a striking mestizo man named Emilio, offers to show her the place in the market where he bought the shoes. He is, as it turns out, a farmer and a serape-seller, and he offers to show her his wares on the spot. Mrs. Parsons finds his desperation and destitution pitiful. The next day, she sees Emilio in the market, who tries to sell her a serape. The first is threadbare, and the second is unattractive and overpriced. They awkwardly bargain. Thoughts of Emilio and her deceased husband torment Mrs. Parsons that night, but she wakes up renewed the next day nevertheless. Emilio, despite her protests, then accompanies her on a trip to some ruins and acts as her tour guide. With him, she feels dizzy, uneasy, hyper-aware. That night, he approaches her for the final time, offering to sell her a cheap Mexican sapphire that he had promised to show her earlier. She accuses him of overcharging her, he contends that the pin is easily worth that much, and she spirals out of control, refusing to pay anything at all. Emilio is confused: what, he asks, are a few more dollars to her? She is rich. Distraught, Mrs. Parsons runs back to the hotel. Her tears spatter the serape that she had bought from Emilio earlier, smudging the dyes.