From the start, he had always disliked his sister’s fiance and it made him begin to doubt her judgment. His sister tells him that he is just narrow minded. One Sunday afternoon, she had suggested they go out to an Italian restaurant where he ordered spaghetti. The noodles’ centers were hard and uncooked and he asked the waitress to take his food away. His sister chastised him for making a show of his disapproval of the dish and they got into an argument about the pasta that quickly turned into an argument more about his dislike of her fiance. She told him that he only looks for negative things, his standards are too high and he has no regard for how his actions harm others. 

He noticed that she had become more critical of him since she began dating her fiance. Before him, they had never had a fight. After he left the restaurant, he called his girlfriend, but she wasn’t at home. He called up another girl at 2 p.m. and asked her to drink with him until sunset, which she accepted. He drives her back from the bar and asks if she wants to go to a hotel, but she tells him she can’t because she’s on her period. After they agree to meet up again on Sunday, he drives back to the home he shares with his sister alone. His sister is not there when he gets back.

He started living with his sister in their two-bedroom apartment five years ago when he graduated college and she graduated high school. The living arrangement worked out well, as they got along and had opposite work schedules. When she first started living with him, he stayed out of who she was sleeping with, but one day he’d come home to find her crying at the kitchen table at 1 a.m. He sat next to her while she cried for two hours straight and at 3 a.m. he told her she shouldn’t carry condoms in her purse because people will think she’s a whore, which prompted her to throw the telephone book at him. She stopped crying and he was able to sleep. 

After she graduated from college, she worked a regular shift at a travel agency, while his work schedule at the advertising agency became increasingly flexible. For summer vacation, his sister went on a package tour with her company to California and started dating a computer engineer. With the new guy, she cared more about her appearance and began to cook and clean. She showed him two photos: one from their trip to San Francisco and a solo shot of the engineer next to a motorcycle. She tells him she wants to marry him and he tries to keep his disappointment to himself. 

One day, his mother called him telling him his sister had asked to bring the man home with her. She asked if he would meet the engineer so he could tell her what he’s like before they meet him. The following Sunday, he went to the engineer’s family’s house and met the man’s oil-company executive father. He thinks that it’s a bad match, as his own father owns a rival chain of gas stations. The engineer’s father tells him he sees no problem with the pair getting engaged, and after dinner he and the father drank and talked about work. His sister and him left the house with the engineer who asked them to go to a coffeehouse with him. He makes several jokes at the engineer’s expense, but the man doesn't catch them. He tells his parents the engineer is a serious boyfriend but that he won’t be their informant on his sister’s relationship anymore. 

The day after the spaghetti argument, his sister tells him they are having dinner with the engineer on Sunday and that she expects him to be there. He calls and tells her he has a date, but she urges him to cancel. He calls his girlfriend and tells him he can’t see her this weekend and then calls the girl he made plans with, but she doesn’t answer that day or the day after that. On Sunday morning, his sister wakes him up early and cleans the house while he looks through an adult magazine. She hands him a grocery list and asks him to go shopping for dinner. He decides to be nice and buys the groceries, along with a nice bottle of Chablis wine. 

The engineer pulls up to the house on his motorcycle at 3 p.m. with a gift of 31 different Baskin-Robbins’ flavors, and his sister asks him to entertain him while she finishes up dinner. He offers the man a beer, but he refuses and says he’s allergic to alcohol. He starts to tell his sister’s fiance about a wild night in college, but his sister cuts him off and tells him to show the man to the broken stereo set so he can repair it. While the engineer looks at the stereo, he drinks a beer alone. The engineer goes out to buy a soldering iron to repair the machine, which he finishes repairing by 5 p.m. The engineer explains his recent work project to him, and he feigns interest while daydreaming about women. The conversation takes a turn for the better when the engineer begins to crack jokes. The engineer asks if he’s ever thought about married and his sister lectures him on his immature lifestyle. 

After dinner, they drink coffee and then he leaves the couple alone while he goes for a walk. He walks to the neighborhood bar and watches a football game while he drinks whiskey. He meets a twenty-year-old girl and buys her several drinks before going back to her apartment. After they have sex, she falls asleep and he leaves. On his walk home, he throws up and thinks about how the soldering iron was a kind gift but how having it made his house feel different now. 

At the apartment, he finds his sister sitting on the couch alone drinking a beer. She apologizes for being so hard on him and tells him she’s nervous about the future. He comforts her and they share their body count with one another. He says he knows he needs to settle down soon. He falls asleep that night wondering what the future holds for them both.