Sally, Alex, their nine year-old son Kent, six-year-old son Peter, and six-month-old daughter Savanna go to Osler Bluff for a picnic, in honor of Alex’s geology research on the area being published. When they get there, they see a sign warning them about “deep holes.” The family sits to eat, Alex feeling somewhat annoyed with Sally’s casual breastfeeding of Savanna. The boys have to go pee, and run off to do so. The parents hear a yell, and run over to see Kent hurt, having fallen into the hole, both his legs broken. Kent then has to be out of school for six months. During that time, he and Sally begin devotedly learning about obscure islands, and bond heavily. Kent becomes kinder after this period, and his love for his father grows, though Alex clearly does not like his son. Once Kent is in high school, Alex grows to like Kent more, as he is a good student and loves science. In college, Kent disappears. Eventually the parents learn that he has dropped out and started working at a tire shop out of Toronto. Sally and Alex don’t hear from Kent for 3 more years, when he writes a letter from California, where he is passing through. He writes many pages of rambling, which lead Alex to believe he is on drugs. Alex retires from his teaching position, and decides to write a book. Bored, Sally works as an assistant to him, appearing as the contrasting factor to rocks in his photos. Soon after, Alex goes in for a minor surgery and dies. One day, Sally is watching tv coverage of a fire in Toronto. Savanna, now an adult, calls shortly after to say that she had seen Kent helping the people in the footage. She tracks him down, and meets him for coffee. He has become a monk of some sort. He tells her that Sally could come visit if she wanted. Sally comes to see Kent, to find that he is living in a flophouse. They have a tense conversation, in which he makes it clear he has little interest in being in her life. After Sally goes home, she eats a frozen dinner, and considers writing a check to Kent for him to use for the flophouse. She feels that the day wasn’t a total disaster, and it might get easier with aging.