As Kay, a mother of 5 children—4 girls and 1 boy— is doing laundry, her youngest daughter, Angela, reminds her of her ex-wedding anniversary. She does this with a breakfast, as she’s done every year for the past 5 years, 2 years earlier, Kay’s stomach was partially removed from churning ulcers, rendering her unable to eat the entire plate Angela prepares. The sight of Kay’s unfinished plate stirs anxiety in Angela, causing her to fidget with her hands and the diamond ring that her father, Richard, gave her on her 16th birthday He had commented on how Angela has blossomed into a beautiful girl. Kay objects to the gift, arguing, “she’s your daughter, not your fiancée.” Their argument about the ring quickly escalates after he suggests that Kay’s ulcers, are actually a symptom of Kay’s resentment towards her children’s births because they halted her graduate education.  Once, while all the older children were home from college, and while planning for Angela’s sweet sixteen party, the oldest sister, commenting on gender dynamics says, “the nuclear family lives in women’s guts. Your mother has ulcers, Angela, she can’t eat gravy with your daddy.” Richard slaps her, and she doesn’t return home for the next two years. Angela is hardened at this sight, and after Richard gifts her the diamond ring, Kay files for a divorce. Kay later recalls Richard moving away and being admitted into the hospital for her procedure. She also recalls how Angela declined to go with Richard and declined invitations to visit her mother. Back in the present, Angela comes to visit in the summers, and prepares elaborate breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for Kay in the hopes that “something good will happen” if she sees her mother eat everything. Her mother reminds her that she has 50% less stomach, to which Angela responds by sliding all the food onto her plate.