Schiff is sent to a small college town by his law firm, Brothers Vogel, to administer the beginnings of a bankruptcy case with a small bookstore. He is met by the unpleasant and unhappy Greenspan brothers, store owners who take personal offense to Schiff's role in shutting down their store. The Greenspans compare him to Hitler when he says he's just following orders, but take back the joke the next day when they realize Schiff is Jewish. His work gets easier from then on, and he takes small pleasure in doing the store's inventory. Back in his motel room Schiff watches program after program on television and listens to his classical cassettes. He floats off to sleep thinking of the bookstore, of the empty life he'd lived with his ex-wife from the firm, and of his recently deceased younger brother.

The next evening Joe Greenspan pounds on Schiff's door, asking if he wants to smoke with him, and when Schiff doesn't respond Joe says he missed his last chance. Schiff's ex-wife calls that evening, upset that Schiff didn't pass along the news of his dead brother and not amused when Schiff jokes about their estrangement. When she hangs up, he begins a series of long-distance calls to verify the death - first to his brother's cell, then the San Diego police, the local hospital, the medical examiner's office, the art school where his brother taught, an old lover of his brother's. Nothing comes of the calls, and Schiff remains numb to the fact of his death. Then he tries his brother's cell again, and his brother actually answers and explains the confusion - he'd faked a letter from a widow so his college would stop sending donation requests.

Schiff arrives at work the next day to see that the Greenspans have started a fire in their back room. He attempts to put it out but winds up running out of the store, his knees burnt. His first impulse, astonishingly, is to place one last long-distance call and let his wife know what emergency had come up now.