Ilka’s husband, Jimmy, recently died, and she has been left with a baby, Maggie. She sits shivah for Jimmy, while Jimmy’s various coworkers, acquaintances, and friends all decide how they will support Ilka during this terrible time. Some are too dramatic about the death, others put off writing, children ask about death, and Dr. Alfred avoids Ilka, out of shame and discomfort. Meanwhile, Ilka misses Jimmy, but she remarks on how it doesn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. They each engage in their idiosyncratic way of mourning their lost friend.