Gavin—who is an assistant art curator at the Filmore in Seattle—divorced his wife of 14 years, Oriana, for a woman he met in an online BDSM community named Pilar. The two have been having on-again off-again sex for three years, with Pilar often breaking up with him because he refused to tell Oriana about their relationship (Pilar's husband knew every time she saw him; eventually, they got divorced). Pilar has a teenage son named Iggy who plays guitar. Gavin feels very sexually compatible with Pilar, whereas his and Oriana's desires were very incompatible. After the divorce, Gavin dated around then got back together with Pilar. Now, he is considering inviting Pilar and her son to move in with him. However, he is still reluctant to be open about his relationship with Pilar and keeps his BDSM life a secret, fearing that it will hurt his career prospects, as he is hoping to take over his boss's job and the people in the Seattle art world would frown upon his other life. After the divorce, Oriana posted a Facebook rant saying he'd been "secretly obsessed with a fetish lifestyle" and that he'd spent $1,100 on sex toys in the past year. Though she took down the post shortly, he worried about who had seen it. Gavin and Pilar take a trip to Portland to attend KinkFest, where Gavin doesn't have to worry about running into anyone he knows. However, at KinkFest Gavin becomes overwhelmed by the unaesthetic quality of what he sees around him, feels a lot of internalized shame, and has to leave. Gavin's cousin Betsy, the only person Gavin is close to, lives in Portland. Pilar wants to meet her but Gavin has been hesitant, worried Pilar will talk about their sex life and that Betsy will judge him. But when they meet, the two seem to get along splendidly. Gavin notes that they look similar. However, Betsy guesses that they were there for KinkFest, noting that she was the one who asked Oriana to take down the Facebook post. Pilar notes that Gavin is honest with her, and Gavin wonders if Betsy thinks he has told Pilar their unspoken secret (he hasn't)—that as children he and Betsy sexually experimented with one another, her feigning sleep. On the drive home, he asks Pilar to move in with him and she agrees. He decides to keep his secret from her though, thinking he will "hold it tenderly until he finally sets it free."