Before their marriage, our protagonist’s wife worked as a personal assistant to Robert, an older blind man, while living in Seattle with her soon-to-be first husband. She took the job purely out of financial need. Still, she developed a close friendship with Robert and maintained regular correspondence. In their back-and-forth tapes, she recounts her unhappiness moving between army bases, her suicide attempt, her divorce from her first husband, and her engagement to her second one. She’s told her husband about her relationship with Robert, including a tender moment at the end of that Seattle summer when he asked if he could touch her face. She’s shown her husband the poem she wrote to consecrate the interaction. Now Robert is coming to spend the night after visiting the in-laws of his recently deceased wife.

Transparency notwithstanding, the husband expresses unmoving displeasure concerning the imminent visit. He is openly disdainful of the man’s blindness and maintains that Robert is a stranger to him. The husband is sparingly courteous when he arrives, pouring everybody drinks before they dig into a sumptuous dinner. Robert and the wife launch into enthusiastic conversation after the meal, in which the husband participates minimally, answering questions when asked. Drinks are poured amply throughout.
The wife goes upstairs to put on a robe, and the husband turns on the TV. Robert agrees to smoke cannabis at the husband’s bequest. As the wife dozes between them, they watch a TV program discussing cathedrals. The husband suddenly feels he must explain what the screen is showing, and in a pique of curiosity, asks what Robert pictures when he hears the word cathedral. Robert shares his minimal understanding and asks the husband earnestly to describe them. The husband attempts to do so, comparing them to poetry, sounding quite eloquent. However, he apologizes profusely for what he feels is a lackluster job and gives up feeling downtrodden. Abruptly, Robert asks the husband to bring down a pen and heavy paper, saying they’ll draw one together. The husband begins haltingly, but with Robert’s encouragement and fingers tracing the pen lines, he gains momentum and draws freely. Robert instructs the husband to close his eyes as he adds the last touches, finally asking his opinion of the final product. With his eyes closed and suddenly free of all constraints, the husband says, “It’s really something.”