Deems Lennon looks out the window and sees a woman named Martha Sloan walking up to the cemetery. He calls to his wife, and says that Martha is going to Jim's grave. When he's fixed gravestones at the cemetery, he has watched en her plead and talk at Jim's grave. Mrs. Lennon remarks that Martha has not been the same since her children died, and Deems says that he thinks that Jim, Martha's husband, is following her. Martha runs down the pathway from the graveyard and Deems and Mrs. Lennon go outside to help. They bring Martha inside, where she says that Jim's hand reaches out to her, and that Jim took both her children, Dorothy and Joseph, who died. Martha says that Jim cannot stand to have her alive. Deems takes Martha home. On the walk, Martha repeats that Jim took her children, and she reveals that he was cruel when he was alive and often beat them. Martha reminds Deem of a time when he was romantically interested in her, but Jim came, and soon owned her. Deem remembers that there was always a sense of possession with Jim, and one of the townspeople had hung himself when he could not pay the debt he owned Jim. He also remembers how much Martha changed — from carefree and happy to quiet and restrained — after her marriage to Jim. Deems brings Martha to her house. When she is inside, he sees her stare out the window toward where Jim's gravestone stands on the hill. Martha imagines her name next to Jim's on the gravestone, and the dash that represents her year of death. She sees a hand advance down the hill from the gravestone to crush the life out of her. Martha remembers when her children died. Her daughter Dorothy heard her name called in her sleep, and when she woke she seemed to see her father beside her. She followed him out to the barn, where he told her that he had come to take her with him. She struggled to escape him and flung her lantern. She died shortly after from the burns from the fire. Martha's son, Joseph, died when a bridge collapsed, and afterwards Martha had seen Jim, who told her that he took Joseph, and now there was alone her. Suddenly, Martha senses that there is something in the room with her. She sees the outline of her husband at the head of the couch, and leaps out the window to escape him. She screams and runs to the Lennon's house. The Lennons take Martha in, and they notice how much quieter and calmer she has gotten at their house. However, Martha constructs a plan in her mind to be free of Jim forever. One day, Martha sees one of Deems' cleavers in the kitchen, and she picks it up and remarks to Mrs. Lennon that she could cut off Jim's hand when he reaches for her. Deems takes the cleaver from her, and the couple starts to watch her more closely. A few days later, Martha feels the presence of Jim, and screams for him to let her be. Mrs. Lennon and Deems find her passed out on the floor. There are a few days of heavy rain, and Martha rests quietly. One day, Deems comes back from fixing gravestones and remarks that the rain has loosened Jim's grave so much that he is afraid it will fall. When she hears this, Martha decides that she will go that night to separate herself from Jim. She says goodnight to the Lennons and goes to bed. In the middle of the night, she wakes up with a cold feeling. She sees a hand reach out of the doorway, and tells Jim not to take her, while she retrieves Deems' chisel from a closet. Martha walks out of the house, trembling and mumbling. She walks to Jim's gravestone, where she tells him to let her be; she wants to live. Martha hacks at the gravestone. The Lennons are awakened by a heavy crash. They discover that Martha is not in her room, and they guess that she has gone to the graveyard. They walk to Jim's gravestone, where they find Martha caught under the stone, her body crushed. As she dies, Martha yells for Jim to let her go.