The main character, Pat, leaves a note on the kitchen table for his father and stepmother before biking into Vancouver to see his older brother, Clifford. He explains that this will make his father angry because his father had wanted Clifford to work for the family company, but instead he went into the city to be an apprentice for a chemical plant. When Pat arrives at Clifford's house, his older brother is not there but a woman, Clifford's landlord, answers and tests Pat to make sure he is truly who he says he is. Clifford and Pat go to eat at a café. After, as they are walking around, Pat asks his older brother if he has made any friends since moving to Vancouver, and then flashes back to a time before Clifford left for Vancouver, when his friend Tink shot himself in the stomach accidentally while cleaning his shotgun. Pat is clearly worried about Clifford, and feels a responsibility to help his older brother. The two brothers go to sleep, and in the morning, Clifford has to go to work and Pat is supposed to bike back home but he ends up calling his parents to inform them he is going to stay with Clifford in Vancouver. After hanging up, Pat finds an ad in the paper for a delivery boy, calls up the place, and then bikes around town, grocery shops, and cooks dinner before Clifford gets home from work.