Rachel is a beautiful, five-foot-ten, red-haired young woman who has moved into an apartment in New York and works as a floor model. She felt that a man was following her, and the third time Rachel could tell that someone was watching her, the mysterious person turned the doorknob to her home. Rachel locks up her house and figures that she is safe enough.

Rachel thinks about all her neighbors and how it must be the superintendent in the elevator. All the other men she knows are too lovely, like Good Joe and Mr. Einstein or her married photographer Bill, or are queer, like Howard and Schuyler. In some respects, Rachel wishes that people would just tell her she is pretty, as opposed to thinking she is a snob. She is jealous of the couple across the street that she sees through her window; the woman is not very good-looking, but she and her husband lounge intimately on weekdays and host parties on weekends. She does not understand why she, a more exciting person, does not have that.

One day, when Rachel is walking home from the movies, a man jumps from the landing above her apartment and attacks her. Rachel begins screaming, and all her female neighbors come out to chase and capture the attacker. Rachel's attacker turns out to be the married man across the street, and he is taken away in a police car. Rachel is taken to the hospital because she is in pain, but no actual harm is done. All her coworkers and neighbors come to visit her.

Not long after, feeling that she has made proper acquaintance with her coworkers, including Bill and his wife Billie, the junior-sizes model Snookie, and Howard and Schuyler, Rachel hosts a small party at her house. They have a fantastic night of drinking and fun. Rachel and her guests notice the woman across the street, who now lives in her apartment alone. The guests become fascinated with the mess in the woman's apartment, as she has belongings strewn everywhere, and they stare, trying to figure out what each item is. Rachel thinks it is somewhat invasive, but because of the alcohol, she lets it slide.

The following day, Rachel looks at the woman through the window again. She is sprawled in the same position as she went to sleep in last night, and Rachel thinks she might be dead. Rachel does not call anyone to check on the woman, mostly because she does not remember her name. Eventually, the woman gets up and lights a cigarette around 5PM. Rachel thinks the woman must be desperate to ask her husband what she did to deserve any of this.