An older woman named Susan sits in her house at night and listens to the neighbors’ doors opening and closing, hoping they won’t come to her place. Her sister Sally, who she lived with for decades, has just died and everyone in the neighborhood seems to have something to say about it. She knows the neighbors, Martha Yates and Ella, will judge her for going on a trip to Bermuda and firing their longtime maid right after Sally’s funeral. What they don’t understand is that after Sally’s death, Susan felt a surge of strength that allowed her to finally break out of her meek, shy personality and instead take on the friendly, extroverted identity of her sister. Now she wants everything done differently and no old acquaintances that expect her normal behavior. Susan even goes as far as writing a letter to offer marriage to an old friend named Joe, whose house is being demolished. However, all her plans go out the window when Martha and Ella arrive, and Ella bulldozes over all Susan’s hopes when she insists that the latter move in with her. Even though Susan protests at first, the two other women continue to talk over her and make plans, leaving her in the same overwhelmed position she began in with Sally.