Clare and Alan Pierson used to spend their summers up in the country, renting houses and taking their children Linda and Davy with them. Now significantly older, Clare looks back on those memories she made with her family and thinks about how things have changed: her marriage is shaky, her daughter Linda lives elsewhere with her own children, and her son Davy has died. She recalls the summer of 1938 when the Piersons entertained family and friends for the weekend. Barbara, Alan's sister, spent nearly the whole evening waiting for her lover to call on the telephone, and she left early when the call came. The children quickly lost interest in the proceedings and felt as though the evening was dragging along, a feeling shared by the adults. Conversation halted, and Clare found herself looking at her husband with a critical eye and wondering if Barbara's love life was more exciting. She glanced at another couple at the party - the Macys - and almost envied them for their harmony. Dinner passed slowly. They talked about the Second World War and who might be drafted; even though the conflict did not directly affect them yet, it was the inescapable elephant in the room. The children were more excited about the fireworks than anything else. Clare acted as though she disliked fireworks, but in truth, the possibility of stray explosions scared her. Everyone else enjoyed the display while it lasted, but Clare was trapped in her thoughts. She entered the house, thinking about how she was simply a tenant in a stranger's house. The following year, someone else would inhabit the same space, but it would not matter because they had not made enough memories there to leave any 'ghosts'. This realization caused her to detach herself emotionally from the party, and she wished it would be over. With the children inside with their grandmother, Clare looked at her daughter, seeing the woman she would grow up to become, and she was forced to acknowledge the passage of time. Their party seemed to have lasted an eternity, but she also knew that the hours were slipping away and would never come back. At last, Alan, Davy, and a third guest - Adrian - decided to take a drive down the road. Clare waited for them in the garden and was lost in the sounds of memory.