Dovisch, an American Literature professor in California, presents a lecture to his students in preparation for their finals. Rather than offering a traditional review session, he delves into a series of crazy events that happened to him: The previous week, he takes a trip alone to a wilderness spot called Pyramid Lake and stays for four days. Drawing inspiration writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the purpose of the trip is to experience and test solitude. He leaves behind all his material objects and even resolves to not write or read anything. He pushes through his camping trip and passes time thinking about the United States and his personal upbringing as the child of Russian immigrants in the Bronx. When it is time to return home, Dovisch is horrified to find that his car will not start. He walks along the road and stops at the first house he sees. A man and woman answer at the door, and Dovisch assumes from their appearance that they are Mexican. He explains the gist of his situation, and the man introduces himself as Mike and demands fifteen dollars if he can fix the car and ten even if he cannot. While Mike drives them back to the car, Dovisch suddenly realizes and exclaims that he must be an “Indian,” causing Mike to slam on the brakes and take offense. When they get to the broken-down car, Mike tries fixing it and ends up cutting out the entire engine. He tows Dovisch’s car to a gas station and seems to be on bad terms with Wilbur, the attendant working there. Dovisch begs Wilbur to let him borrow the phone, but he refuses and says it is the boss’s orders. A highbrow couple pull up to the station in a Cadillac, and Dovisch desperately explains his situation to the man. The man agrees to take him back to California and drop him off at a bus station. He easily orders Wilbur to take Dovisch’s car to a mechanic and gets Mike to forget about the money by requesting the name of the Indian Commissioner. With the man’s aid, Dovisch makes it back home and to the current lecture. He ends by informing the class that their final will involve a critical literary reading of the story he just told.