Lieutenant Stack has been sent to England as a part of his duties as an enlisted man in the Second World War, and after all this time he finds himself missing his wife. He can picture exactly what she looked like when he told her that he would have to go, but there are times when the memory grows too faint and he has to distract himself from thinking about cheating on her. The rest of the men have gone to a dance organised by the Red Cross, but Stack stays behind to study for a test on Monday. He decides to go out for a walk when the loneliness becomes too difficult. He goes to pubs and two movie theatres before realising that he's done it all and seen it all, and finally in a moment of weakness he goes looking for a woman, any woman. Stack finds himself walking back into a movie theatre to watch a movie he has already seen just so he can spend time with a woman he saw there - Leslie Bean. She was also married, but her husband lives in London and she is saving up for a divorce. They talk during the movie, and share a cigarette as they walk back to her house. In conversation, Leslie talks about the way that marriage changes somebody, but believes that this change isn't permanent, which is what causes marriages to fall apart. Stack reflects on how similar war and marriage are: it was only this feeling of utter loneliness that could make someone love people so much. He has sex with Leslie, and then goes back to his quarters, determined never to cheat on his wife again. Ironically, this encounter with Leslie has made her memory more vivid than ever.