Cheyney and Maroney Lester are the bearded sisters of Red River County, having vowed to be close to each other until death. Their closeness is unattainable for Princis Lester, their younger, beardless sister. Her companion, a cat named Zamour, is all she has – but he is only a beast, and he could never provide the closeness she longs for. Princis knows she must escape the country and start a new life; the perfect opportunity presents itself through Mr. Simpson, a railroad man who has been assigned to Houston. Together with Zamour, Princis plays the game of ‘Waiting for Mr. Simpson,’ and he comes just as she predicted he would. They elope and move to Houston. Once they arrive, however, Princes sorely misses Red River County and her happy sisters. Much to the horror of her new husband, she carries on with country ways in the middle of the city, until he decides to leave her and go live in the complex for railroad workers. The neighbours gossip about Princis’s strange habits – she keeps to herself and at twilight, calls her cat and walks down the road. Mr. Simpson falls sick. Princis does not go to him; she asks her cousin Wylie Prescott to come live with her and get a job in the city. The two stay out of each other’s way; Princis now only calls for her cat and spends her time staring into her grandmother’s antique mirror, observing her own appearance. When Mr. Simpson dies, Zamour and Princis start a new game: ‘Waiting for the Pension.’ Prescott leaves her to her own devices, and her longing for country life affects her perception of reality. She is convinced that the neighborhood is conspiring to keep the pension from her – when the neighbours come to warn her of an impending storm, she deems this warning a senseless threat. Water fills her home. A frightened Zamour betrays his mistress with claws raking across her face, and then abandons her entirely. She reaches for her mirror, having nothing else left, and finds that she too has grown a beard. In the morning, Princis is found and immediately sent away to a home. The pension finally comes, but she is deemed mentally unfit to claim it. It goes to Prescott, who eventually becomes rich because of oil found on their land. At her death, the bearded Princis is laid to rest beside her bearded sisters, having finally known a sense of belonging. Cleo Prescott, the daughter of the now-rich Prescott, eschews the trappings of her father’s wealth in favour of cherishing the effects left behind by Princis, among which is the antique mirror.