Lydia, a newly single mother, welcomes her son Barry back home as he takes a break from Amherst. Barry leaves the house on his motorcycle--which Lydia disapproves of, feeling that other boys are the type to drive motorcycles, but not Barry--after making an offhand comment to his mother about how he is deeply ashamed of something, which causes Lydia to nearly spiral with worry. She does not understand where he goes when he leaves on his motorcycle, and this sense of losing control over his existence makes her anxious. She even has to hold herself back from going through his things. Not being able to understand her son despite her intense love for him contradicts her experience with her ex-husband, who she insisted on divorcing even though he wanted to try to repair their relationship.
Lydia recalls when she and Barry went to visit family friends out of politeness and Barry left Lydia to talk with Phoebe Stone, a married woman who is about ten years older than Barry. Though not particularly attractive, she is deeply seductive.

When Barry returns home, he reveals that Phoebe has asked him to come over to her house so they can have intercourse, to which he agreed. Now racked by guilt, Barry asks Lydia to call Phoebe and tell her that he cannot come. Lydia resists, as Barry is twenty years old and should be able to handle the situation himself, but she eventually relents and calls Phoebe with a sense of triumph at being able to control some element of her son's life. Lydia believes that Phoebe is crying from the rejection on the other end of the line. Even though Lydia feels Barry moving away from her as he grows up, she is pleased to have been able to bring him back under her wing in this small way.