Frances Benedict is married to Emery, a lawyer. Frances is thirty-three and has a few kids, but no job, and Emery always tells her she needs to grow up. Emery and Frances attend a party one night where Emery ignores his wife and gets attention from other guests. The only person who gives Frances the time of day is a waiter. Frances asks Emery to leave, but he does not want to go. At the end of the night, the host walks Frances and Emery to their car, and Emery gets into the driver's seat, though he is clearly drunk. Frances lets him drive for a bit so as not to embarrass him, but when they are away from the party, she repeatedly asks if she can drive. Emery says no. They fight. He hits something, and they get a flat tire.

Emery gets out of the car to change the flat. Frances stands on the car's hood and vaguely offers to change the tire, but Emery takes this as an insult to his manhood. Emery hurts his hand when the jack slips. A car stops next to them, and three young men, around twenty years old, get out and offer to help change the tire. When Emery realizes the boys are joking, he tells them to leave, but they do not. One of the boys, named Larry, begins rocking the car on the jack. Emery tells him to stop and that he will knock the vehicle off the jack. But the other boys respond that Larry is not mean and he is not accidental. Emery tells the boys to help fix the flat, but they tell him to shut up. They continue acting weird and imply that they want to rape Frances.

The leader tells Emery that he will fix the tire only if Emery gets in the car and Frances stays outside of it. Emery angrily says no and is about to start a fight, but Frances tells him to do it. Emery gets in the car, and the leader talks to Frances while sitting on the hood as the other two fix the tire. He tells Frances she is a tough woman, and he likes tough women. Frances yells at the boy not to touch her to fix the tire and leave her alone. The boys finish and leave. Frances gets in the driver's seat, and Emery stays in the car's back seat. She drives home. Emery tells her, "I hope you're satisfied." She thinks about how she will console Emery when they get home but how, for right now, she is enjoying the moment.