Charlotte visits her mother, who is dying of leukemia, in the hospital. Her mother informs her that she's been invited to participate in a promising clinical trial, and Charlotte is very excited.
Though Charlotte works as a philosophy professor, she's currently taking a weather forecasting class at another college. The professor is named Dale and often talks with Charlotte before class about forecasting and Charlotte's work in philosophy. At forty, Charlotte is ten years older than Dale, but she has fallen deeply in love with him in the past weeks. Charlotte eats lunch with a fellow meteorology student named Helen, a nineteen year old undergraduate who confesses to Charlotte that she is in love with Dale. Charlotte tells Helen that Dale is too nice to too many people, meaning that he could never really devote all his love to one person. One afternoon before class, Dale casually mentions that he has a girlfriend. Charlotte is devastated, but in the days that follow she convinces herself that perhaps Dale invented the girlfriend to pique her interest. Charlotte's mother seems to be responding very well to the clinical trial; she appears to be stronger each time Charlotte sees her. One day, however, Charlotte comes home to a voicemail from the hospital: her mother has died. Charlotte is desolate. During her next chat with Dale, Charlotte ends up screaming at him. Dale is characteristically nice to her, and Charlotte realizes that Dale was never romantically interested in her; he's just a generally nice person.