Brenda Leroy gets hit by a car the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. Nobody knows the details except that she was walking her dog, who refused to leave her when the ambulance came. The dog is a rescue, and Brenda has raised it for five years despite her own diabetes, back pain, financial trouble, and two sons whom she has raised without a partner. The police determine the car was a Honda CR-V. The EMTs determine Brenda to be in critical condition. The neighbors spread both juicy bits of gossip far and wide. Carol Li notices that her next-door neighbors' CR-V has been very recently repaired and washed. She assumes Penny, the wife, whom everyone believes to be an alcoholic, hit Brenda with the car and forced her timid husband, Bert, to cover for her. Carol goes to the police, and the rest of the neighborhood piles on to blame Penny. Jesse, Brenda's son, waits by the bedside of his comatose mother and recalls his fractured upbringing. The doctors recommend he remove his mother's life support. He doesn't want to; Jesse and Brenda fought the night she died, just before she took the dog on a walk to clear her head, and he feels guilty. Jesse regrets blaming his mother for not taking good enough care of him. Penny remembers coming back home from work on Tuesday, and feeling relieved that Bert was inside the house. She's been worrying about his deteriorating mind. She takes a bath, falls asleep in the warm water, and wakes hours later to an empty house. Both Bert and the car are gone. Penny panics, but when Bert comes home with the front of the car caved in, she resolves to stay by his side no matter what. The dog reminisces about Brenda. He remembers surviving an abusive owner, meeting Brenda, following her everywhere, fueling and feeding on her optimistic energy, and lying with her in the road after she got hit by the car.