An old woman, Alma, is visited by her two children, Paulie and Pammie, for Mother's Day. Pammie takes her out to lunch, and they go for a walk, at the daughter's urging. Alma is annoyed or offended by most things her daughter does. She recalls many distorted memories where she and her deceased husband Paul abused their children, but she doesn't remember it as abuse, such as an instance when they locked Paulie in a garden shed overnight. She misses her husband, Paul, and wants to visit his grave. She remembers how having children ruined their sex life and he would often say other women's names in bed, except for a brief period when things were more sexually exciting between them. He was also a drunk. They almost lost the house a few times because he was a bad salesman. Alma and Pammie walk past the house of Debi, a girl from Alma's high school who she remembers as a "hippie" and a "slut." Debi is outside and waves to Alma, who doesn't wave back. Debi remembers all the men she has slept with and her daughter who ran away. Debi was also a bad mother, not understanding her daughter's needs, but in her imagination she was a good mother. Debi remembers Alma always being mean to her. Debi speculates that Alma doesn't know that Paul slept with so many different women, including her. She was Paul's longest and most intense affair, recurring twice. She was in love with Paul. After Alma decides not to wave back, it starts to hail. A big chunk hits Pammie, who bleeds. Pammie takes off her sweatshirt and carries it over Alma to protect her, wearing just a bra. The two take shelter near a tree and a fence. Debi comes toward them with an umbrella to help but Alma waves her away. She knows Paul cheated on her with Debi. Alma leans against the fence and it breaks. She falls and has a heart attack. After Alma waves her away, Debi resolvedly goes inside deciding not to help. Then she hears sirens, and sees Alma's body being loaded into an ambulance with a sheet over it. Alma has a vision of Paul and her children. In it her hands are burning red. Paul is trying to protect her children from her. She thinks she wants to be the person she was before meeting Paul. Then he disappears. She can't grab her children, though they seem to want her, because of her burning hands. The girl asks whose fault it all is and she says Paul's then hers, and neither answer makes her hands stop burning. She decides she has to stop being herself, Alma, to fix it. Then her hands cool and she picks her children up. The EMTs pronounce Alma dead while Pammie cries against the tree.