Marge and Ralph Tremayne invite their friends over to their Vermont farmhouse every year during Columbus Day weekend. Four couples and their children — as well as a few family pets — drive up from Boston on Saturday to join the Tremaynes. The Maloneys, Tylers, and Neusners arrive in the afternoon. They play their yearly softball game, then go inside and drink. They wait on the Englehardts before they have their usual chili-and-hot-dog dinner. Marge, the hostess, keeps mainly to herself; she locks the door to her room. The Englehardts arrive late after being delayed by their son's football game. Together at last, they all eat and play bridge into the night. Josh Neusner sleeps poorly that night in the men's bunk room because the other men snore. He is groggy the next morning. The rest of the vacationers split up the following morning. The Maloneys go to church in town, while Marge, Andy Tyler, and one of the kids head to town to buy some wool. Linda Tyler leads a nature walk with some of the girls. Others cook, tend the garden, chop wood, or insulate the pipes under the house. In the afternoon, they play a game of volleyball and Deborah Neusner injures her toe. Afterwards, they all go inside and play a number of games before they eat a late dinner. Some of the men and women get a little too close to other people's spouses. After dinner, another game of bridge is played which lasts until three in the morning. Josh takes his wife's advice and sleeps in the spare bed of the women's bunk room. Deborah switches beds with Marge, who no longer sleeps in the same bed as her husband Ralph. A storm rolls in during the night. Josh is the only one who is well-rested on Monday morning. Everybody begins to pack up. The Maloneys and the Neusners leave first. The others stay through the lunch hour to talk. Linda takes a few of the girls on another walk and points out the autumn leaves. She tells them how the canopy is much thinner now, even though they cannot see any leaves fall individually. Though she doesn't say it outright, she knows that this is what is happening to her group of friends as the years go by.