At her husband's memorial service, a widow is approached the principal of the school where her husband taught sixth grade. Rather insensitively, he tells her, "I think we've found a replacement for Kit."

The widow returns home with her children — the rebellious 18-year-old Bibi, the immature 11-year-old Ben, and the baby — in addition to Kit's mother, who has come to help out.

The widow recalls learning about her husband's death: police from their Connecticut town came to the door and informed her that he died attempting to fly a "light plane," which he rented after training to receive a pilot's license. The bereaved woman proceeded to unplug the telephones, while her daughter Bibi locked herself in the bathroom and dyed her hair blonde.

Later, exhausted and in disarray, the widow visits her husband's school to collect his things. There, she meets his "replacement" — the young, attractively dressed Andrea Dennis. The widow spills some Elmer's glue, and Andrea goes to fetch a sponge. When 15 minutes of waiting have elapsed, the widow starts to think about Andrea kissing or flirting with the other teachers, and decides to leave. She arrives home to find the house clean thanks to Kit's mother, Rennie.

Rennie's husband is a "haunted man," prone to strange behavior and furious outbursts. He has long been checked into a VA hospital. The widow hopes that Rennie doesn't connect her son's accident with her husband's illness. "That would have been unfair," she thinks.

The harshest months of winter give way to March, but the grieving — and snow — continues. The widow notices that both older children have been secretly drinking beer, and that Bibi has been borrowing her push-up bra. Bibi waits tables at a local cafe that Andrea frequents, and the widow grows fixated on this young teacher, asking her daughter questions about what she ate and with whom she dined.

One day, driving back from a meeting with her lawyers about the settlement for her husband's death, the widow's windshield freezes over. She's hit by a feeling of nausea that she identifies as "suddenly missing Kit."

Another day, now in April, Rennie wants to talk about her son. The window says her husband was overconfident and impulsive.

On Memorial Day, the town gathers at the park for festivities and games. The widow watches Bibi — now in a goth phase — talk with the "sporty and pretty" Andrea. Meanwhile, Ben enters and loses a Frisbee throwing contest with his dog. Afterwards, Andrea congratulates him on his performance and insists that he was robbed of his rightful victory.

The widow realizes that Andrea has been an "important distraction" for her: "She'd been someone safe for me to focus on while the reality of having no Kit was so fierce. I realized I couldn't make my interest in her into anything polite or easy to explain." The widow simply settles on offering a thank you, and a compliment on how "great she looked in blue."