An unnamed Harvard man recalls his life with his best male friends and his the peripheral women that have accompanied them. Hal, his best friend, was an intellectual like him and the two had gone to school together, meeting Carrie, who was their Latin teacher. Though his friend never cared much for Carrie, Hal was enamored with her. Carrie would remain on the sidelines as they and their male peers discussed the Moscow Trials, communism, and other intellectual topics. One day he hears that Hal is very sick, and before his letter can reach him, Hal dies. He and his wife, Vivien, visit Carrie in New York to console her and ask about Hal, but he values very little about anything she has to say. Vivien comments that Hal looked familiar, and when the two return to their hotel room, she reveals that she had once kissed him many years ago before she knew either of them. He becomes furious, slut-shaming and berating her, asking if she let him have sex with her. She calls him a brat, to which he responds by punching her in the mouth. She then reveals that she is pregnant for a second time, the first of which he had forced her to abort. He tells her to clean herself up, disgusted by her appearance. Months later, the child is born while he's away in Pearl Harbor during World War II. He returns to visit New York, thinking that he will see Carrie again and lecture her about philosophy and what she believes is his lingering presence. When he gets to her door, however, he smells something foul and discovers her body. He chooses not to do anything about it, though, opting instead to let the milkman or janitor find her, and makes his way back.