Catherine was sent to a boarding school before, and is visiting her parents for Easter. However, when she comes in off the train a taxi is sent for her instead of her parents. She reaches her home and her mother greets her at the door and says that they have guests visiting them. At the end of the hall, Catherine meets Mr. and Mrs. Kett who are a nondescript couple who say nothing to her. Catherine finds them fascinating. Catherine then goes to see Granny who is sitting in the living room knitting quietly and asks Catherine to help her with the knitting. Catherine says she is hopeless at knitting and Granny begins to cry. Catherine then goes to see her father who is working in the backyard and digging things up. He says that the Ketts are in the shed getting things ready for the next guests. For the rest of the day Catherine sits in her bed and watches as her parents work in the backyard and the Ketts stand and watch. At dinner they all sit around a table together and drink wine late into the night, not eating anything. The night is a blur, but before Catherine goes to sleep she sees her parents still in the garden and the Ketts making strange motions around them. The next morning Catherine doesn’t see Granny and begins to help her mother and father in the backyard, slowly digging trenches to form a sort of maze. She willing continues to work with her parents and skip meals. That night they once again drink with the Ketts and Catherine wants the approval of the strange couple. The next morning she wakes in the shed, unsure of how she got there, but gets back to work to build the maze. The Ketts seem impatient with the slow process of their work. In the afternoon, her father collapses from exhaustion and decides to go inside to sit with Granny. Eventually, Catherine also becomes exhausted and joins her father and Granny in the living room. Granny once again asks for help with her knitting, but Catherine passes out. She wakes to a voice telling her to get away from there, which she somehow does despite the pain in her limbs and head. She runs up to a nearby pond and sees the face of a corpse in the water and jumps in. Catherine thinks she is dead as a reverend and a woman pull her out of a pond. Catherine tries to run away from the two of them, not knowing that she is alive. She tries to tell the police and other questioners about the Ketts, but no one seems to understand. Years later, when she is on a train she sees the Ketts in someone’s backyard and waves to them, feeling grateful when a hand returns the wave.