A husband and wife are on a tropical beach vacation in the 1980s. On their last day of vacation, the husband goes out on his own to swim. At the beach, he notices an elderly mother with her son who is in his late twenties and in a wheelchair. The husband never sees the mother and son converse. He contrasts this to him and his wife, who always have a lot to talk about. One day the man swims to a raft and he finds an overweight blonde woman lying there. She tells him about her time as an airplane stewardess, despite not having been asked. Planes fly overhead, and she wonders aloud if it looks like guests at the resort are having a good time. Before long, the man excuses himself, the image of her fat glued to his mind. On their last night at the resort, the husband awakes in a cold sweat and leaves the room for a short walk. He finds the son sitting at the bar alone and is invited to join him. The son recalls his life story, saying that he and his mother have disabilities that make them practically useless to their family. So instead, their family sends them to places like this resort to get them off their hands while they make money to keep up with their extravagant lifestyle. Suddenly, the son asks the husband if he knows anything about knives, and despite admitting that he doesn't, the son pulls out an expensive blade that he recently purchased. He hands it over to the husband, asking him to cut something with it; seeing as he's confined to his wheelchair, there isn't much that he can cut, so he wants the expensive knife to get properly used. The husband obliges, beginning by cutting a tree and a boogie board. Before long, it is as if he's in a trance, cutting anything in his path with the blade, and when he's run out of things to slice, he continues by motioning the blade in the air. In the mist, it is as if he can see everything from this trip: the fat woman, the beach, the rafts, and he slices each and every one. When he sits down anew, the son tells him about a recurring dream he keeps having: there is a knife lodged in his brain, right where his memories lie. He wants someone to pull it out because he can't do it himself; Even though he can stab himself, he can't bring himself to remove the knife.