Morse, a late-middle-aged man with a wife and kids who feels thankful for his family but ruminates over his failures with spinning anxiety, feels snubbed by Cummings, an odd, nearly-forty-year-old aspiring writer who still lives with his mother and passes Morse without acknowledging him. Morse gets lost in his thoughts then spots two girls in a canoe, crying for help, heading toward the falls without oars.

Cummings, daydreaming of being a famous writer and sex symbol, spots the girls as well, when their canoe breaks, and he stands paralyzed, not knowing what to do.

Morse runs toward where the canoe was going, hoping he will meet assertive first-responders who will save the girls and tell him what to do. However, when he reaches the broken, flooding canoe and the girls struggling in the water, he realizes it is just him. There is no time to call 911 or get help, and he's not a good swimmer. He thinks about how his family needs him, how he has an excuse to leave them to die, then he jumps into the water toward the girls.