John Jielewicz is an older Polish man who lives by himself and accomplishes tasks around his house every day. His daughter Eleanor visits every few days and asks her father to move in with her, her husband, and her kids so that he does not have to hurt himself doing chores, but John enjoys his chores. One day, John goes to church for Reconciliation. He begins confessing his sins in Polish, but the priest stops him and asks him to speak English, if he can. This American priest is not John's normal priest, and he throws the whole Confession off. John can only remember that he was angry and cursed that week, and instead of assigning a rosary as penance like John's usual priest does, this American priest gives John a sermon about anger and fire and God's goodness. John barely listens and leaves the confessional with a stomach ache, uncertain of what his penance is supposed to be. John thinks about how he always curses— that is what the priest should have given him a lecture on. His dead wife Masha always told him horrible things would come from the cursing he did. Masha also claimed that the Virgin appeared to her, and John did not like the attention she received from people saying Masha was touched by God. His wife was a woman, not a saint. On Saturday, John went to get his curtains cleaned as part of the chores that day. He took them to the woman who cleaned everyone's curtains, Widow Sobcek. He told the widow he had a stomach ache, and she made him a soup. He immediately felt better, though his stomach had been aching for days. He watches Widow Sobcek clean his curtains, and the old woman looked like a young girl behind the lace of the curtains. For the next year, John took his curtains to be cleaned nearly every week and began seeing lace everywhere he looked. His daughter tells him he is embarrassing her and he cannot get married again, but John does not care. One day, John slips on ice and breaks all of his ribs. He goes to the hospital and slips in and out of consciousness for days. He refuses to eat until the widow comes and brings him food. She does this every day for a week until, one day, she does not come. John puts on his clothes and slips out of the hospital and takes a cab to the widow's house. The widow is lying down in her bed and says her legs were tired; John realizes she walked to the hospital each day to visit him. John insists that he help the widow clean her customers' curtains, and, as he begins, he notices the lace in each one.