At a hospital, shortly after the passing of his Uncle El, freelance artist Marty is asked by his Aunt Jessica to act as a temporary shomer—a sort of guardian in the Jewish religion. Marty, who is in his mid-thirties, feels like a pretend Jew as he is not familiar with the shomer tradition.

Marty’s cousin Leo explains that Marty is to sit in the funeral home with the body until another cousin comes to take over. Leo explains that no immediate family is allowed to be the shomer. Marty agrees to be the temporary shomer.  

Marty takes his sketchpad, the Tanakh, and a boggle set to the funeral home. His mom drops him off outside. There is utter lightlessness within the home and Marty feels as if this may be the wrong place. There is Asian writing on a sign in the window.

Marty approaches the door and an elderly Chinese-American man with a white ponytail ushers him inside. Marty explains that he is the shomer for El Burnstein. The language barrier between the two men makes it difficult for them to communicate. The rest of the home is completely silent.

They go downstairs in the dark. The elderly man switches on fluorescent lights and the hallway is white and empty with linoleum floors. He takes Marty to a room that is small with one overhead light. There are two other doors in the small room. There is also a couch and a table with books and a pitcher of water. A bookshelf crammed into the room practically blocks the second door.

After the man leads Marty inside, he tells him not to open the door—though Marty does not know which door he is referring to as there are three doors in total. There is a window covered with a curtain on the other side. Marty suspects that Uncle El is in the room on the opposite side of the window.

Marty hears sounds outside of the room. He opens the first door to investigate but the Chinese man has turned the overhead lights off. There is silence. Marty thinks of how he always wished for one final night with his uncle. He thinks of his childhood memories of Uncle El and how Uncle El had made him feel special and important. Marty imagines he is talking to his uncle from beyond the grave and explains that was not resentful of Uncle El for bringing other kids in the family along on their trips together. Marty had just been sad when he realized Uncle El treated all kids in the same way that he treated Marty. Marty felt that Uncle El thought he was selfish when all Marty really was, was longing for a human companion.

Marty begins sketching as he thinks of Uncle El. As he sketches Uncle El’s head, Marty hears more sounds and then a human sigh. He then says a psalm. Marty hears wails and then rustling, so he opens the door to the hall. He realizes there is a woman wailing somewhere in the home—but the rustling is coming from within the shomer room. Marty feels a grip on his arms but when he turns back around in the room, everything is as he left it.

Marty decides to try one of the other doors connected to the shomer room, which opens to a bathroom. Marty sits back on the couch and tries not to focus so deeply on any specific memories. He continues hearing wailing and rustling every now and then. He sketches and reads psalms until falling asleep. Suddenly, he is woken up by a scream. He gets up to open the other door but then hears the rustling again. Marty turns and goes to the door that leads to the hall. Marty can hear murmurs as he ventures into the dark hallway. He approaches a door with a light underneath it and opens it to see three Chinese Americans playing Mah Jongg. They explain that they are performing their version of shomering and that the wailing woman is also performing a ritual. Marty goes back to his room. He hears the rustling again. He goes directly to the unopened door and opens it.

The room is frigid. On a gurney is Uncle El with a blueish light pouring over him. The bluish light is sniffing around Uncle El’s body and then turns towards Marty. Marty realizes that there are no artificial lights on in the room. Marty feels as if he is yanked backward into the shomer room as the door swings shut. He gets up and races toward the door when he runs into Robbie, who is going to take over as shomer.

When Marty exclaims “it’s in there!” Robbie and the Chinese man respond that of course 'it' is, thinking 'it' refers to Uncle El. The Chinese man hopes that Marty did not go inside because of how cold they need to keep the room. Robbie comforts Marty and then gives him his keys to drive home. As Marty drives away, he thinks of reasons why Jewish people soap mirrors after someone dies. His uncle El told him it was to prevent the angel of death from seeing him. Marty thinks that the shomer allows the dead to perform one last Mitzvah by keeping the angel of death at bay. Marty further suspects that the angel of death feeds off sadness and suffering, and that is why an immediate family member may not be the shomer to a loved one. He believes that the dead can help the shomer by pushing them out of the angel’s way.

Marty cries as he drives to El’s house to be with well-wishers, family, and food.