Having arrived in his former college town, Mark Aker calls his old friend Mel. When he picks up, Mark tries to figure out whether he is drunk as the two dance through a ritual of old inside jokes. Mark grows somewhat tired of Mel carrying the joke so far and is disconcerted by the joviality. Mel invites him to his home. On the way there, Mark embraces an intense sense of nostalgia for those days when being alive felt fuller.

When he arrives, Mark is met by a drunk Mel and his delicate wife Tamsen. Mark believes she is a simpering woman with a cold heart who delights in trickery. He has heard that she cheated on Mel; they went away for six months, and then decided not to get divorced. Mark feels guilty that he didn't reveal then that Tamsen had a tendency to sleep around. When Tamsen leaves the room, he tries to summon the courage to address the issue. Mark wants to encourage his friend to leave her, but he finds that time has stretched too long between then despite how close they used to be. He presents the anecdote of a hunter, a glass mountain, and the deer on the other side who is blissfully unaware of its fate.

Mark stays the night and spends more time with the couple, meeting their son in the process who doesn't seem to respect his father. Mel covers his pain with booze and bad comedy, which frustrates Mark as he realizes that the tables have turned. While Mel seemed to have wealth and status in college, now Mark possesses it while Mel got stuck in the town where he attended college. He wishes he could recapture who they used to be when they were younger. When he leaves, Mel walks with him a distance. He isn't able to say anything that he wanted to, but he still tries to offer the man some support. Mel drops his façade and Mark realizes he was only pretending to be drunk. His intense emotions shine through.