Paul, a war veteran living in Atlanta, begins going to Dom's, a local bar, amid his hectic relationship with his then-girlfriend Lettie, who he doesn't feel like he can connect with very well. He enjoys the regularity of listening to a group of men, known as the boys, argue about sports and relive their pasts. He begins going to the bar more and more regularly, hoping to be accepted by them. One day, Red, one of the boys, challenges him to a game of darts, which Paul clearly wins. A week later, Red gets very drunk and introduces Paul to his sister Millie, who comes to Dom's on days that she knows her brother will need a ride home. Millie and Paul get along well together. At the end of the evening, Paul offers to drive Red home, but Millie says she will do it, since they live together. Paul goes to the bar even more, carpooling with Red and occasionally Millie. Eventually, Paul and Millie begin dating and want to get married, though they disagree about what to do with Red. Millie wants him to keep living with them and Paul relents as long as they can move into a bigger place. Red, however, settles the issue himself by moving out. Millie worries about her brother, asking Paul to go see him at the bar. Red isn't always there, but when he is, he insists that he doesn't want to move back in with his sister. After awhile he agrees to join them for dinner as long as Line and Buff, two of the other men at the bar, can come too. The dinner goes poorly. After an argument, Red and his friends storm out. Paul comforts Millie, who's worried she has lost her brother forever. A few days later, when Paul goes back to the bar, the boys act uncharacteristically friendly towards him, inviting him into a booth with them. Then Paul sees why: Lettie, his old girlfriend, has come to the bar. Paul talks with her, and she says she is surprised that he still looks incomplete, even after marriage. The boys begin to tease him, and in the heat of it all Paul blows up at them, saying that they are pathetic, useless, and lonely, and that they should stop wasting all their time drinking every night. In response, Buff knocks Paul to the floor and begins to fight him, but Dom, the bartender, breaks them up. Red tells Paul to leave. Paul goes out on the street and stands there for a minute, and he makes eye contact with Red for a minute. He realizes that his outburst struck a cord in Red. When he gets home, Paul tells Millie about what happened and that he has realized that he doesn't want to be one of the boys at the bar because they are truly lonely. Millie hugs him and says she knew this all along and was waiting for Paul to find that out on his own.