A young sailor arrives at an old brick home and asks the landlady, Mrs. Southworth, if he can rent a room while he waits for his ship to arrive. Mrs. Southworth shows the sailor a room and he pays her in advanced for it. Mrs. Southworth and the sailor become good friends and drink together. She talks about the people who live in her home and that there is a strange man named Downey who hasn't paid his rent in a few weeks. However, she feels sympathy for the man and has not yet kicked him out. She explains that Downey is quite strange and often sits by his window carving wood. The sailor leaves to return to his room and encounters Downey, who merely stares at the sailor and speaks very little. Downey is an older man who the sailor considers very brittle. One day, Downey goes to visit the sailor's room and opens up. The two men talk about their lives. Downey explains that many years ago, he went to college and earned his degree. He then married a girl he had loved since he was young and they had children. A few years after, Downey insisted on enlisting in the army despite his wife's wishes. When he returned from his time in the army, Downey felt very upset and lost in the world. Downey explains that he felt extreme hate for his wife and children and then tore up his family's living room with an axe before leaving and never returning to his wife or children. The sailor listens to this story and realizes that Downey's order of storytelling is not in chronological order, but the sailor continues to listen. Downey smokes a cigarette before returning to his room. Downey returns to visit the sailor and tell his stories often. Downey explains that after he left his family, he became a motorman in Chicago. He searched for meaning in religion and philosophy, but was unable to find it. Then he moved to New York as a dish washer, but found no meaning there either. Downey explains that after New York, he lived in 8 different cities. In Ohio, Downey talks about a woman he fell in love with, but eventually ran away from. Downey talks of his addictions to alcohol and then drugs, which lasted for several years. Downey then talks about how he finally became a delivery boy for a grocery store and decided to rent a room of Mrs. Southworths to settle down. The sailor asks Downey his reason for being here and Downey says that he is unsure. The sailor then asks Downey about his hobby for woodcarving, to which Downey does not respond and leaves. The sailor assumes Downey will explain his hobby eventually. A few days later, Downey visits the sailor again, but the sailor is shocked to see Downey looking more confident and joyful. Downey explains that he has finally found meaning in his life. Downey talks about a beautiful piece of wood he found on the beach one day and that he carved it into an idol of a god to worship. Downey talks about the immense joy in his idol and that it makes him feel whole again. The sailor listens to Downey talk about the idol and how Downey prays to it and how the idol gives him meaning. The sailor begins to pack, as the ship he is waiting for has arrived. Downey explains that he is very happy and that his past wallowing had disappeared. The sailor departs the room and watches how exalted Downey looks, but thinks about how lost the poor man is too because he is not truly free from his financial and life burdens.