For nine-year-old Jackie, a visit from his Uncle Dave means gifts and drama between his parents. On Dave’s latest visit, he gave a flat-wrapped package to his mother and a mysterious carton to his father. The wrapped packed is untouched and stored away, but the carton is carefully placed in the basement. The boy watches as his father starts spending late nights out with Dave, much to his mother's displeasure. They argue about Dave’s drinking problem, and the boy recalls a disastrous past visit when his uncle and father got drunk and sang loudly in the public train station. Although his mother gives his father an ultimatum between the family and drinking with Dave, the two men continue going out to bars. Behind his mother’s back, they sneak into the basement one night to drink from the carton stash. The boy sits with his mother in the kitchen as she calmly listens to their loud, drunken mirth from downstairs.

His father complains to Dave about how unfair it is for his wife to try to control all his personal business and decisions. After completely ignoring both men, the boy’s mother tells Dave he needs to go or else she will. The boy is surprised by his mother’s resolve and his uncle’s timid compliance. Before leaving, Dave tells the boy an anecdote about Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He describes Mickey Mouse as a stable and good person, meaning one deserving to get married, and Donald Duck as an unstable and reckless person with no choice but to be alone. The boy admits he likes Donald Duck better but does not understand the story. When it is time for his uncle to leave, his father angrily yells at his mother and even chases after Dave’s car. One afternoon after he is gone, the boy and his father are surprised to see his mother crying in the kitchen. She unwrapped the gift Dave brought for her, and it was a poem he wrote about how visiting them cures his loneliness. The boy’s mother regrets being so harsh and throwing him out, and his father consoles her by pointing out why she had to. The boy observes how his parents’ relationship is strengthened, and he ponders the strange permanence of his uncle’s character.