Margo returns to New York City after travelling Europe on her own for several years. When she arrives back in the city, she reunites with a friend she went to the New School with. The friend is named Danny, and she is pleasantly surprised to see that he seems much more confident and sure of himself now. The two get breakfast together, and Danny tells her all about Marxist ideology, which has totally changed his worldview and lifestyle. After breakfast, Margo finds herself wanting to learn more from Danny and spend more time with him, and she stays in his apartment for the rest of her time in New York. The entire time she is with him, Danny relates anything and everything they discuss back to Marxism and socialist China. He consistently expresses a feeling of overwhelm and disappointment at the many shortcomings of America's capitalist society. Eventually Margo leaves to travel around other parts of the United States, leaving Danny in New York. While she is in Arizona, Margo realizes she is pregnant with Danny's child. She flies back into New York City to meet with her friend Jane who has scheduled her an appointment with a gynecologist for an abortion. When she arrives at the airport, Danny is there to pick her up. She tells him the news, and rather than being embraced in concern and support, he rattles on about the flaws of a capitalistic healthcare system and encourages her to read Marxist literature as a means of empowerment and self-help during the emotionally and physically taxing process of her abortion. He continues to emphasize the point that her abortion is her own individual choice without realizing or acknowledging that he is not offering her any actual support, particularly financially, forcing her to rely solely upon Jane. After her abortion, Margo plans to leave New York and go back to Europe. She does not hold Danny's passion, bordering on obsession, with Marxism and its tendency to blind him from a true connection with her outside of political conversation. She reflects on their time together and is happy to have learned and gained a greater perspective from him, but ultimately cannot understand his overarching outlook of despair and hopelessness.