A sixty-four-year-old man named Ramsay lives in a London townhouse with his thirty-seven-year-old wife and teenage daughter, Alice. He considers himself a dead man, as he floats through his life on a routine, not feeling any joy in his activities or love for his family. He thinks about his “real family” in the United States that he parted from twenty-four years before. Every morning he sits with his wife and Alice and they talk about Alice’s schooling, the new servant (as they get a new one constantly), and random topics in the newspaper. Then, Ramsay goes to work at a newspaper clipping business collecting information on certain topics for different clients. When he gets home one day, his wife has guests and he yells at her and retreats to his bedroom.  He continuously writes and sends money to his daughters in the U.S. even though he doesn’t have a lot of money. He also asks his oldest, Margaret to come visit him in London, which she continues to decline. One day, he gets a letter from Margaret saying that she has quit her job and she is going to visit him. He becomes excited and picks her up from the station when she arrives. He notes how much she looks like her mother and he cannot stop staring at her. She is welcomed coldly by Ramsay’s wife and Ramsay tries to make everything nice for her stay. Ramsay notices his wife first trying to boss Margaret around even though she is only five years older, but then she begins to try to get Ramsay’s affection back by flirting with him and acting young. Ramsay only seems interested in being with his daughter and staring at a picture she has of his ex-wife. His wife begins acting openly rude to Margaret, and one night Ramsay hears Alice being comforted by Margaret after the embarrassment from her mother. A few nights later, as Ramsay sits downstairs late at night, Margaret comes down the stairs dressed to travel and her suitcase in hand. She says she is leaving and that she doesn’t need any money from Ramsay. Ramsay gets angry at her and asks why her mother left him, but she remains calm and says that he is selfish, weak, and impossible to live with. She leaves and Ramsay begins to notice how dull his life seems again suddenly. He realizes that his one desire is to see his first wife again.