A married couple enjoys their stay in a hotel on Christmas Eve, though the wife is annoyed by her husband's sloppy habits. She is irritated because she hates spending every single Christmas in a hotel instead of in a house of her own; her husband is a traveling salesman, and so is her son. She rejects his offer to go to a dance downstairs. The two end up drinking to waste their time.

The woman reacts angrily when the man suggests she take a hobby to distract herself from her boredom. She wishes she had friends and a house that belonged to her. At the same time, she also resents her husband's tendency to drink a lot. The woman missed a period when they lived on a chicken farm for his work for a year. The man is annoyed when his wife accuses him of having an affair because he has repeatedly told her that the woman with whom she saw him was a potential client. Interrupting their fight, their son calls to tell him that he will not be able to make it into town to spend Christmas with them, though he is clearly out partying. The woman begins to cry and tells her husband that she will divorce him if he does not stop working as a traveling salesman.

He agrees to quit without much thought but decides to go out drinking. He returns hours later and tells his wife that he has just been informed of another opportunity for his career as a traveling salesman. The woman realizes that he has no recollection of offering to quit. Dejected and distraught, she agrees to continue following him.