Laura Laughlin, a 17-year-old girl in Kansas, goes with her siblings and her mother to the home of her mother's employers, Mr. and Mrs. House, for their annual Easter Frolic party. Her mother works as a nanny for the House's son, Mickey, a toddler with Downs syndrome, and seems to love him as if he were her son. Mr. House is a booming, jovial man. In his living room, he has many amateur ink drawings of naked women, along with a painting of their father's, the somber atmosphere of which clashes with the ink drawings. Laura imagines her husband doesn't know it's there. Her mom is always laughing and smiling around Mr. House, while Mickey plays with her mother's wedding ring, and Laura begins to believe her mother and Mr. House are having an affair. She tells this to her younger sister, Pammy. Laura's father unexpectedly arrives, having driven nonstop to get home. Laura walks him through the house carefully bypassing the room with his painting. He marvels at a painting on the wall. Mr. House greets him jovially, but there is much tension. The family decides to go home. On the way back through the house he sees the ink drawings and becomes upset. Laura realizes they bear some resemblance to her mother. They drive home. Mrs. Laughlin never goes back to work for the Houses, finding another job. Mr. Laughlin finds a traveling partner. Laura's parents stay together and they never speak about the Houses. Laura finds in the mail one day an envelope with her mother's wedding ring, which Mickey had taken to play with.