Stowey Rummel, a middle-aged, famous architect, leaves his house in Pennsylvania for a work trip to Florida. When he leaves, his wife Cleota, now forty-nine years old, spends the day relaxing, and then begins to prepare for her dinner guests when Stowey's older sister Alice lets herself in through the back door. Cleota does not necessarily get along with Alice, who has lived down the street for the past nine years. In fact, she has grown to despise her presence and wishes that her seventy-three-year-old sister-in-law who always asserts herself in her and Stowey's marriage would hurry up and die. Alice tries to invite herself to dinner, but Cleota does not fall for the trick and asks her to leave so that she can cook in peace. When Cleota's best friend Lucretia later arrives with her three guests, the hostess is frustrated to see her old friend John Trudeau with a woman other than his wife, whom Cleota greatly admires. Instead, he is accompanied by a young woman named Saint, who spends the night entirely absent from the conversation except for a few isolated remarks. At one point, when Lucretia introduces her third guest, Madame Lhevine, as a talented fortune-teller, Cleota almost assumes she is joking, though the serious look on her friend's face tells her otherwise. Madame explains that her practice runs deeper than telling the future and mostly involves careful attention to an inner voice. Cleota excuses herself to the kitchen to make coffee, and she is soon joined by Lucretia. Suddenly, Cleota realizes, even before Lucretia tells her, that she must be in the midst of a divorce. When her friend confirms the news, the hostess begins to feel dizzy and unsettled. Until Lucretia reminds her, she forgets completely about the coffee, which has now gotten cold. Before long, John and Saint say goodbye, leaving Cleota, Lucretia, and Madame still at the table having drinks. Their conversation turns to the future, which, as of recently, Cleota admits, has been making her feel increasingly uncertain. Soon, Madame places her hands on Cleota's and asks if there is an old woman in her life. When Cleota responds describing Alice, Madame predicts that she will outlive her brother Stowey, Cleota's husband. Cleota begins to feel a strange sense of relief. Moments later, a car pulls into the driveway and Joseph, an old friend and neighbor, emerges. Joseph, a novelist in his thirties, joins the women for a drink, feeling slightly strange and out of place. Madame brings up Joseph's novels, which she admires though she critiques them as over-constructed. The discussion soon turns into a heated debate, with Joseph arguing that there must be some larger purpose to life, Madame and Lucretia disagreeing, and Cleota carefully staying neutral. Eventually, Lucretia and Madame leave, so that Joseph is now alone with Cleota, who is at this point obviously drunk. Joseph soon tries to leave, but Cleota has become emotional, and he does not want her to be alone. For a while, Cleota rambles about Madame's prediction and questions the relationships she sees falling apart around her. She fears that there is no longer an aim to life outside of personal relations, which is driving her peers to find satisfaction in sex, even at the cost of their marriages. When Joseph gets the sense that Cleota expects him to stay the night, he once again tries to leave, but Cleota gets angry and yells at him, asking why he has stayed so late in the first place. As Cleota begins weeping, Joseph runs to the door, growing emotional himself, and finally goes home. The next morning, Cleota arrives at Joseph's house to apologize for the night before. Suddenly, Joseph finds himself attracted to Cleota and moves forward to kiss her. When he sees Cleota's surprised expression, however, he backs off. Cleota, now satisfied knowing that Joseph desires her as well, politely leaves. Before she goes, Joseph settles for a kiss on the cheek, though he no longer finds her as attractive as he did moments before. Several months later, Joseph hears that Alice has passed away, and he decides to stop by to offer Cleota and Stowey his condolences. When he arrives on their street he sees the couple on a walk, but when he greets them Cleota and Stowey respond coldly. Joseph drives off after the brief conversation, and Cleota and Stowey happily resume walking.