Abner is an elderly man who lives on Earth, despite the human race having evacuated to New Earth in response to the original Earth’s climactic destruction. Evacuations are now being made mandatory, but he plans to hold out and die on his family’s estate, where he has maintained a garden filled with frogs. One day, a group of teenage stragglers stay at his house. Abner takes to the girl, but when he goes to Albany to see them again, he learns that they, too, have evacuated.

Abner recalls his son, Josef’s, recent birthday when Josef and his family seemed to have lost all sense of feeling and affinity to the Earth that they grew up on. Abner fought with them, claiming that they shouldn’t just let go of their home as they’re being forced to. Back on Earth, Abner is visited by his granddaughter, Rachael, who doesn’t stay for long before going back to New Earth to attend her classes. Later that night, Abner’s estate burns down. He’s evacuated to New Earth, where he begrudgingly lives and has a hard time adjusting.

On the night of her graduation dinner, Rachael pulls Abner aside to show her a project she’d been working on for school. She recreated his estate and his ecosystem of frogs using samples she’d collected during her visit to Earth. Abner is extremely touched, remarking how he could start his life anew on the land.