With a librarian for a father, a young woman reflects on growing up among books. The real world was less appealing than the stories between the pages, so after college, she returned to the library as an employee herself. One day, a donation arrives from a deceased old man whose children had no need for his tomes. The most valuable of the books had already been taken by collectors, but quite a few remain. After preparing them to enter the library’s circulation, the librarian picks up a book of poetry from the collection. Immediately, the poems move her, prompting her to try to learn more about the author with no success. In the middle of the book, she finds a request form from her library and becomes curious as to who put it there and why.

Months later, the librarian meets the man who filled out the request in the library. She watches him using the closed-circuit TV, noting that he has come to read newspapers. He temporarily blocks his activities from the camera’s view, attracting her curiosity. He comes to the service desk where to check out the poetry book. The librarian begins a conversation with him, telling him how enjoyable the poems are, and he responds by asking for her contact information.

After more than a week, the borrower calls and invites the librarian to a gathering at a dilapidated bar. There are more than a dozen others in attendance, all of whom appear welcoming. The borrower begins the gathering by talking about the author of the poems they all love and the lack of information they have about her. He relates what he knows of her story, discussing how an editor who was close to the poet received all of her work right before the latter died. And rather than trying to turn her friend’s work into a commercial success through exploitative tales of drama and tragedy, the editor distributed the book of poems privately, freely giving it to anyone who expressed interest. Reading groups of the poet’s work convene yearly to commemorate her, paying no mind to her life and actively trying to preserve her privacy in death by deleting biographical information whenever possible. For these groups of readers, the poems are enough.

The borrower hands the narrator a clipping from a newspaper that he took from the library when obscured from the camera’s view, allowing the librarian to make the decision of what to do with it. She decides to burn it, and it is clear from her companion's reactions that it was the right choice. The gathering proceeds with a reading and a cozy atmosphere of companionable enjoyment of the poet’s work.