Evelyn Crowe is a murderess who has been in prison for six years out of her nineteen year sentence. She is now forty-five years old, and she has been pardoned by a new, merciful governor, partly because she has tuberculosis. The warden drives Evelyn to the train station. She has acted as a secretary for him, because she was once a prominent teacher. She gets on the train, and the warden kisses her goodbye. Evelyn is scared that someone will recognize her, but nobody does. She gets off the train in Brussels, Wisconsin. She is going to stay with her friend Martha Colvin. Martha greets Evelyn and tells her she is not old, for which Evelyn is grateful. They drive to Martha's farmhouse, and Evelyn tells her stories from her time in the penitentiary. Evelyn is very grateful to Martha, and Martha says that her life is not over and she needs to do something with the rest of it. Evelyn sees a doctor, who tells her that the tuberculosis has begun to heal and it will be fine if she leads a quiet life. The tuberculosis was a result of a bullet that Evelyn had turned on herself a few minutes after her crime, and which had ripped off half of a breast and the tip of a finger. Martha is friends with a doctor named Bolton, and he comes to have dinner with the two women one night. He is at first fearful of Evelyn's presence, because he knows her past. However, he soon relaxes and they all converse. The next day, Martha goes into town, and Evelyn is home alone. She looks through Martha's old magazines, and in one there is the newspaper clippings and records from her trial. She sees photos of herself and of the man she killed, Captain Fisher or Bill. She remembered that Bill had given yet another reason for them not to marry, and she had run upstairs in anger and grabbed the pistol. She had called the superintendent, then shot Bill and tried to shoot herself, but missed. In the clippings, Evelyn also finds love letters that she had written to Bill that had been published. She cries in embarrassment at the letters, but realizes that if she went on seeing Bolton she could love him. Martha returns home, and Evelyn does not tell her about the clippings because she would not forgive herself for leaving them lying around. Evelyn struggles to keep the secret over the following weeks, and she pretends to be ill. Martha insists on calling Dr. Bolton, but Evelyn refuses to see him and the next time he comes for dinner she stays in her room. Finally, Evelyn relents and sees Bolton. They spend a lot of time together, including when Martha is not there. One night, they are playing a game when Martha has gone to bed. Bolton asks Evelyn to marry him, and he tells her to tell Martha. Evelyn tells Martha that Bolton has asked her to marry him. Martha weeps, because she has loved Bolton for the past fifteen years. Evelyn says she will not marry him then, but Martha insists that she should. Martha says that she expected this to happen, and that there was nothing keeping her and Bolton apart but he still never asked to marry her. She thinks it will be good for Evelyn to get away and travel, and she says that she bores Bolton. The woman kiss each other, and go down to the kitchen. Bolton comes down the driveway, and Evelyn wonders if he will regret his choice because Martha is so noble and good.