One day, Jim receives a call from his wife, Liz, at work. She's hysterical as she tells him that a man came to her door and asked if they had any work he could do for some quick cash. She said no, but gave him ten dollars — all the money she had in the house — and tried to send him on his way. The man insisted that he wanted to return the next day to thank her husband for the money. Liz specifies that the man is Black, and came to the city in the back of a truck. As Jim consoles Liz, he remarks that she's a mighty generous Christian and concludes that she did the right thing. The next day, Jim asks Liz for more details about the man. They both feel uneasy about the encounter, but Jim superstitiously believes that the only way to keep his good fortune is to give to the poor. Jim and Liz go to the park with their daughter and think that they see the man, but Liz confirms that he was much shorter. When they head out to dinner, Jim and Liz warn Janice, the couple's babysitter, that a Black man might come by later, and that she should lie and say she's not sure when they'll return. Janice chides them slightly for their generosity. They go to the movies, and when they return home, Jim and Liz find the man at their front door. They invite him in, where Janice is waiting; the man had knocked before asking for money to pay his cab driver, but Janice had said she didn't have any. Janice recounts a kerfuffle between the man and his cab driver, which involved the police, but the man came away unscathed. The man tells Janice, Liz, and Jim about his family; he has seven children, and despite having a job, the man's family lives in poverty because his company pays him so little. Liz and Jim grow impatient and send the man on his way, but give him thirty dollars and some change before he leaves. Janice worries about giving him all that money, and Jim gets the impression the man isn't conserving his money responsibly, but they still feel good about their charity. The next day, Jim can't stop thinking about the man. Liz and Jim meet up with their friends Rudy and Augustina, who are convinced that the man is scamming them. Jim is shocked by his friends' lack of charity and empathy. Jim goes to work the next day, and when he returns home Liz tells him the man stopped by to ask for more money. Liz told him they gave him all they could and he politely left. Liz concludes he must have been a crook, and Jim agrees.