A family is dealing with the illness of their elderly mother, Minnie Cahn. The father, an emotionally unavailable Dr. Cahn, has turned to smoking and reading the newspaper or conversing with the nurses who care for his dying wife. When Mrs. Cahn is hospitalized, Dr. Cahn no longer sees her, thinking of it as a kindness to grant her peace in the last days. Dr. Cahn ventures with his son, Will, to visit her before her looming death. Will realizes the innate tenderness of his mother as he observes her withering away, leaving behind only her most fundamental human characteristics. Will reflects on what role his mother's presence has played in his life and how her illness has made her as intimate with him in her dying days as she was to him in his childhood. When Dr. Cahn arrives at the hospital, the interaction between him and his wife is brief, claiming he doesn't want to tire her out so much. Will returns his father to his home, but Dr. Cahn remains unsure about the encounter and whether or not he is happy to have seen her.