At the start of a new year, a woman begins a journal to keep track of her memories throughout the year. She buys a dictionary and tries to teach herself algebra while her husband, Dyer, works the fields. Their daughter, Nellie, recently passed away and both are still consumed by their grief. In the middle of January, their neighbor Tallie and her husband, Finney, come by. Immediately, the woman is struck by Tallie and her vivacious nature. They talk about the seriousness of their husbands when it comes to their farms. Dyer soon falls ill, and, as the woman cares for him, the temperates outside continue to berate them. Dyer recovers, but their relationship is fraught; she doesn't want to have sex, as she still grieves the loss of their child, and Dyer grows frustrated. Tallie visits the woman and brings gifts for her birthday. On the way, though, her foot breaks through the ice in the brook, so the woman warms her foot for her. Tallie reveals that her and Finney got into a fight beforehand and that was why she wanted to come see her. They chat by the fire, then Tallie heads home. Dyer returns also with gifts, ones that are much more meager than those Tallie gave. A blizzard comes in February and the woman is worried about the barn animals. As they wait out the storm inside, Dyer tells his wife about the time his mother witnessed a kind of lightning strike before a big earthquake. They sleep together. At the end of February, their neighbor's young son dies, which triggers memories of Nellie's death: her terrible illnesses and the terrible grief that followed. In March, Tallie returns for a visit and the two women talk about their families for hours. Their other neighbor's child is badly burned, and although Dyer and Finney are sent in to help, she dies shortly after the burn. Tallie comes to visit again in mid-March with a cold. As they talk about their lives, Tallie and the woman kiss, and then kiss again. After Tallie leaves, the woman is despondent. After not seeing a glimpse of Tallie for three weeks, Tallie and Finney show up at Dyer's door to invite the couple over for dinner. At the dinner, Tallie is quiet and Finney is combative. In the kitchen as they collect the dessert, the woman notices a bruise on Tallie's neck. When the woman returns home, she is filled with fear at the scenarios she's playing over and over in her head. Two weeks later, a neighbor reports Tallie and Finney's farm to be abandoned. Sure enough, the woman receives a letter from Tallie which explains that they had moved and that she is horribly unhappy. Just a few weeks later, Finney reports to Dyer that Tallie has died. Sick with grief, the woman insists she see Finney to get more information. While at Finney's, he threatens her and tells her the same story he told the sheriff: Tallie got sick and died. Dyer and his wife sit by Nellie's gravestone and the woman imagines Tallie's lonely grave.